■ AustraliaThieves get walking shoes
Deborah De Williams' fund-raising trek around Australia came to a temporary halt when thieves made off with her most required equipment -- her walking shoes. On the road since leaving her Melbourne home in southeastern Australia on Oct. 17 last year, De Williams has trudged through cyclones and floods in a bid to become the first woman to walk around Australia. Thieves in remote Halls Creek in Western Australia state stole four pairs of walking shoes, her wedding rings, a mobile phone and a digital camera from her van over the weekend, she said yesterday.De Williams is hoping to raise US$182,500 for charity, walking an average of about 42km a day to complete the 14,600km trek within a year.
■ China
HK delegates out in the cold
Pro-democracy legislators were yesterday shut out of a meeting which could help shape Hong Kong's political future. Chinese officials and Hong Kong delegates to the National People's Congress met in the border town of Shenzhen to debate the possibility of freer elections in the former British colony. Democrats asked to attend but were told their request had come too late and it would have been "too much of a rush" to have them at the forum. Qiao Xiaoyang (喬曉陽), the top Beijing representative at the talks, said yesterday morning he only received the Democrats request on Tuesday evening. He said if they wanted to put their views forward they could make written submissions which would be considered before the talks ended today. The forum will report to the National People's Congress in Beijing, which begins a hearing on Sunday to decide its response to calls for reform in Hong Kong.
■ United StatesBush to front commission
US President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney will appear together on April 29 before the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, an official said on Tuesday. The closed-door questioning is likely to focus on what steps the administration took in the summer of 2001 to guard against a terrorist attack in the face of warnings from intelligence sources. The issue has proved increasingly troublesome for the White House in the last two weeks, as top administration officials appearing before the commission faced aggressive questioning about whether they took the threat seriously enough.
■ United States
No condom, no start
California officials are to pursue legislation that would require all porn actors to wear condoms during sex scenes, the Los Angeles Times said on Tuesday. The move comes after the US$11 billion adult-entertainment industry was hit last week by an AIDS scare when an actor and actress were diagnosed HIV-positive. State and county officials believe that the scare has given them the leverage they need to force change. The paper said that the state Division of Occupational Health and Safety plans to begin inspections this week, marking the first time the division has investigated the adult-film industry. Industry representatives dispute the need for legal action.
■ IRAQ
UN probe to proceed
Russia has dropped its objection to a proposed investigation of the scandal-ridden UN oil-for-food program in Iraq, clearing the way for former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker to take up his post as chairman of the inquiry yesterday. The allegations of corruption and cover-up have damaged the reputation of the UN just as it is being asked to take the lead in shaping the interim government to take power in Iraq on June 30 and to assist the country in planning elections and drawing up a constitution. Critics have said the charges raise questions about the fitness of the organization for the Iraqi assignment and cast doubt on the willingness of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to permit a thorough investigation.
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