■ Cambodia
Addicts steal crocodiles
A pair of Cambodian methamphetamine addicts desperate for a fix have been resorting to stealing crocodiles in order to buy drugs, police said yesterday. Police said the two were finally nabbed after they stole their seventh croc in three months from a local crocodile farm in their home province of Battambang, about 300km northwest of Phnom Penh. Battambang district deputy police chief, Lach Long, told reporters by phone that Tol Kakada and partner Khun Polo, both aged 23, had embarked on their crocodile stealing spree last September and had evaded both the long arm of the law and the jaws of their reptilian haul until two days ago, when police finally arrested them.
■ Japan
Girl pushes boy off building
A Japanese schoolgirl was taken into police custody yesterday for pushing a five-year-old boy off a building, reportedly to keep him from telling her mother she had taken him to a game arcade. The boy suffered only minor injuries but the incident comes only weeks after an 11-year-old girl slashed a classmate to death and is likely to spark a fresh debate. The girl in the latest incident, aged 13, told police she pushed the boy from a landing between the fourth and fifth floors of a Tokyo apartment building after they went to a game arcade together on Tuesday afternoon. Police are treating the incident as an attempted murder, Kyodo said.
■ India
Policemen killed in ambush
At least six policemen were killed and one was missing after suspected leftist rebels ambushed their vehicle in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, police said yesterday. The attack occurred late on Tuesday when the police patrol was returning from the insurgency-hit area of Rania after escorting traders to a village market, Jharkhand police chief R.R. Prasad told reporters. Rania is about 120km southeast of the state capital Ranchi.
■ Japan
Koizumi speaks in Okinawa
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi yesterday vowed to reduce US military presence on Okinawa as the island marked the 59th anniversary of the most fierce Pacific battle of World War II. Koizumi was among more than 7,000 people who attended an official ceremony at the Peace Memorial Park in the Okinawan city of Itoman under the scorching sun to honor more than 300,000 military and civilian victims killed in the brutal 1945 battle. Okinawa hosts about two-thirds of the 40,500 US troops in Japan. The battle of Okinawa raged for more than 80 days at the end of World War II. As well as being the fiercest encounter in the Pacific during World War II, it was also the only land battle fought in Japan during the war.
■ Indonesia
Bajaj operators hold protest
Thousands of "bajaj" operators parked their noisome, noxious vehicles outside Jakarta City Hall yesterday to protest government efforts to ban the three-wheeled taxis from the streets of the capital. Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso will next month start issuing new operating licenses to a locally-assembled "kancil," a small, four-wheel taxi, in an effort to gradually rid the metropolis of the decades-old, Indian-made bajaj that have served as a cheap form of transport for the public since 1970. The bajaj, using a two-stroke engine, is deemed a major contributor to air and noise pollution in Jakarta.
■ Israel
Army raids critical exhibit
Israeli military police on Tuesday raided an exhibit
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