■ Malaysia
Report slams police graft
The Malaysian police force was under fire yesterday after a special commission charged that it was riddled with corruption from top to bottom. A Royal Commission on police reform found that graft existed at every level and police lacked the resources to enforce law and order effectively, commiss-ion chairman Dzaiddin Abdull-ah was quoted as saying by local media. "Corrupt practices involve officers and personnel at all levels," Dzaiddin said after handing the commission's preliminary report to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Monday. The commission also discovered that there had been excessive force used against suspects under arrest, the official Bernama news agency reported. "The commission will look into cases of death while in police detention and compliance of lock-up procedures," Dzaiddin was quoted as saying.
■ China
Nudist colony shelved
Chinese eager to bare all in public will have to wait to disrobe after local outrage shelved the opening of the country's first nudist colony. Originally scheduled to open to the public at a woodland park in China's eastern Zhejiang province tomorrow, that plan was put on hold after it sparked a furore among prudish locals, Wang Xiaoting, a spokeswoman for the park, said on Monday. The move would have broken new ground in a country where sex is seldom discussed in public. "It's caused a lot of debate," said Wang by telephone from the park near the town of Lin'an on Monday. "Many of the local people say it's disgusting and don't want it."
■ Indonesia
Election challenge rejected
Indonesia's Supreme Court said yesterday it has rejected a claim of irregularities in the July 5 presidential polls by ex-armed forces chief Wiranto, ending his last hope of becom-ing the country's next leader. The ruling followed a separate decision Monday by Indones-ia's Constitutional Court, which threw out Wiranto's claim that malpractices had cost him some five million votes in first-round voting and denied him a place in the run-off. Supreme Court spokes-man Joko Upoyo confirmed the ruling on a complaint over mispunched ballot papers had been issued late Monday.
■ Australia
Cow tampering causes stir
The doping scandal at Brisbane's Royal Queensland Show widened yesterday with one farmer charged over artificially enhancing his dairy cow's udders and four others banned from placing entries in Australia's top agricultural competition. Officials confirm-ed yesterday that after years of turning a blind eye to "udder tampering" in the dairy cow contest a crackdown was underway. "We've kept a close eye on all competitors in the dairy section this year because there's been a suspicion for some years that tampering of udders in the evening before judging has been undertaken," organizer Vivian Edwards said.
■ Hong Kong
Prosecutor plastered
A visibly drunk prosecutor who was giggling uncontrollably prompted a halt in a sentence hearing and later posed for journalists outside the courthouse as Auguste Rodin's sculpture The Thinker, a newspaper reported yesterday. A judge was forced to call a two-minute recess after Roderick Murray, a government prosecutor, put on sunglasses, giggled, clapped his hands and drummed his fingers on the desk during the session at Hong Kong's District Court on Monday, the South China Morning Post reported. Murray later admitted that he had consumed two dry martinis and a number of beers before attending the hearing, the Post said.
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