■ South KoreaEx-president's son stabs self
The son of former president Kim Young-sam stabbed himself repeatedly in the abdomen after being interrogated by prosecutors for alleged corruption, news reports said yesterday. Kim Hyun-chul, 45, has been under investigation by the Seoul Central Public Prosecutors' Office on allegations that he accepted 2 billion won (US$1.75 million) in illegal political funds from a businessman. He denies the accusation. After being questioned in the prosecutor's office, Kim suddenly picked up an awl from a desk and began stabbing himself in the stomach. "I am going to kill myself," the national news agency Yonhap and other reports quoted him as saying. Prosecution officials restrained Kim, who was taken to hospital with minor injuries, Yonhap reported.
■ Malaysia
Anwar plans political return
Former deputy prime min-ister Anwar Ibrahim told the Financial Times yesterday that he planned to return to politics if he wins his fight to clear his criminal record. "I'm committed to the reform agenda and this can only be expressed effectively in a functioning democracy in partisan politics," he said. "If this requires I take a road in having to contest in the elections, I'll do it." Anwar was unexpectedly released from prison last week after the Federal Court over-turned a sodomy conviction. Anwar hopes the court will also strike down his last criminal conviction for corruption, which would enable him to return to political life immediately. He also said he wanted to form a "responsible opposi-tion" rather than join the government or the ruling party UMNO.
■ China
Editor sentenced for fraud
A former chief editor of the Guangzhou Daily was sentenced to 12 years in jail for corruption, the Procura-torial Daily reported yesterday. Li Yuanjiang was convicted on Friday of taking US$60,000 in bribes for 10 years from 1991 when he was vice-director and then director of the muni-cipal propaganda bureau while also the newspaper's editor-in-chief. His convic-tion follows the arrest this year of several leading staff of the reformist Southern Metropolitan News who were accused of embezzling government funds.
■ Malaysia
New bird flu cases found
Malaysia found new cases of bird flu yesterday in an infected area that has been under quarantine for three weeks, setting off a new round of culling poultry and screening people for the disease. Health Ministry officials said that one veterinary worker had been hospitalized with fever and cough and was being held in isolation until tests are completed. Hawari Hussein, director-general of the Veterinary Department, said that inspectors had found about a dozen chickens and ducks dead in three villages from the H5 bird flu virus. More tests would determine whether the strain was in fact H5N1.
■ Bangladesh
World Bank official flees
The World Bank's director in Bangladesh has fled the country after receiving a death threat, according to wire agency reports. Christine Wallich received the threatening letter on Tuesday and left Bangladesh that night. Copies of the warning were sent to several newspaper offices. A bank source would not say whether her departure was planned, where she had gone, or when she might return.
■ ZimbarweCoup plotter starts term
The leader of a failed coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea, Briton Simon Mann, was starting a seven-year jail sentence in Zimbabwe on Friday for trying to buy weapons from Zimbabwe's state arms manufacturer. A court in Harare ruled that the former UK Army officer should stay behind bars until 2011, crushing his hopes that British establishment figures could use their money and influence to secure his freedom. Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe said, "The accused was the author of the whole transaction." A defense lawyer, Jonathan Samkange said there would not be an appeal.
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