■ AustraliaTiny tot new hit at zoo
A tiny koala that could fit into the palm of an adult's hand has become the star attraction at Sydney's Taronga Zoo after staff nursed him back from the brink of death. Zookeeper Darrelyn Rainey kept the prematurely born marsupial named "Koori" beside her bed, feeding him every two hours for two weeks after he was rescued from his mother's pouch last month. Seven-month-old Koori weighed just 330g and was in danger of being rejected by his mother when he was given to Rainey. Koori will soon be weaned from his diet of specially formulated koala milk so he can rejoin his mother.
■ China
Obesity a growing problem
The Health Ministry says in a report that 200 million Chinese are overweight, a sign that rising incomes are helping to expand waistlines. More than 160 million people have high blood pressure and 20 million suffer from diabetes, the ministry said. Those rates and other obesity-related ills are rising. The new study released this week found the proportion of overweight adults has jumped by one-third, to 23 percent, since 1992, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. The number of people con-sidered clinically obese had nearly doubled to 60 million, or 7.1 percent of adults.
■ Macau
Losing gambler goes beserk
A mainland Chinese man who lost big money while gambling went berserk, stabbing his wife repeatedly and setting a fire that trapped several people inside their apartment, officials and newspapers said yesterday. The woman died after the attack on Tuesday, but firefighters saved three people while two others escaped, fire depart-ment spokesman Iu Chong Hin said. Firefighters caught the 48-year-old man in the apartment and handed him over to police, who charged him with murder and arson. News reports said the man lost about $6 million at casino tables. They did not specify whether the currency was Hong Kong dollars or US dollars.
■ Japan
Group suicide discovered
Nine young men and women were found dead in two parked cars on Tuesday, in what police believe may be the nation's largest-ever group suicide. They may be the latest in a rash of suicide pacts that have left dozens of people dead in recent years. Police said seven of the dead -- four men and three women, including several teenagers and a 33-year-old mother -- were slumped in the seats of a rented van in Saitama prefecture. The van windows were sealed with vinyl tape from the inside, and four charcoal stoves were on the floor. Two women were found in a rented car at an isolated temple in Yokosuka, with charcoal stoves at their feet
■ Singapore
Indonesia holds divers
Thirty-two divers who went missing on an expedition near Malaysia have been held by Indonesian author-ities for the past five days for straying into Indonesian waters, officials and dive operators said yesterday. The 32 divers will be allowed to return to Singapore once authorities complete immi-gration paperwork, the boat's owner-operator said.
■ IsraelProbe set on girl's slaying
The army has suspended a platoon commander suspected of emptying an ammunition clip into a 13-year-old Palestinian girl who had already been shot several times by soldiers. The army has launched an investigation into the shooting of Iyman Hams on Oct. 5. Soldiers told Israeli media that the girl had already been shot and possibly killed but that the commander approached her and shot her with automatic fire as they pleaded with him to stop. "I found it necessary to suspend the platoon commander for now," Colonel Eyal Eisenberg told Army Radio. "The accusations are grave."
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