■ AfghanistanVote's validity questioned
Afghanistan's interim leader, Hamid Karzai, held a 45 percentage point lead yesterday in the preliminary results of the country's first presidential election, though a chief rival said the validity of the vote was in doubt. The US-backed incumbent's closest challenger, former Education Minister Yunus Qanooni, claimed to have evidence of fraud in favor of Karzai and that the UN-Afghan electoral commission was ignoring his complaints. "If his excellency Mr. Karzai, my old friend, succeeds in a fair and transparent election, I will congratulate him and cooperate with him," Qanooni said. "But if the result is fraudulent, the legitimacy of this election will be in question."
■ The Philippines
Officer killed in ambush
One of Manila's most senior police officers was killed in an ambush outside his office yesterday, his commander said. Unknown gunmen armed with assault rifles attacked Senior Superintendent Manolo Martinez as he stepped from his car outside the Santa Mesa precinct in central Manila, city police chief Pedro Bulaong told reporters. The officer was pronounced dead from bullet wounds at a Manila hospital about two hours later. His police driver was also seriously wounded.
■ Hong Kong
Brief-clad burglar plummets
A burglar clad only in his underpants tried to escape from an apartment by climbing down a drain pipe but slipped and fell to his death, police said yesterday. The burglar broke into an apartment in the wee hours of Sunday and was ransacking the living room when the owner woke up and discovered what was going on, police spokeswoman Trish Leung said. The burglar fled through a window and climbed down the drain pipe but he made it only part way down before falling to his death. Since the burglar was wearing only his underwear and had no identification, police are not certain about his identity or age.
■ Japan
Robbers pull off huge theft
Armed thieves stole US$4.8 million in cash from a shipping firm in the second-biggest robbery ever in Japan, police said yesterday. Four to five masked men Sunday evening rushed into an office of Tobu Transportation Co. in Tochigi Prefecture, 100km north of Tokyo, and threatened two workers with guns and stunguns, police said. The men took the key to a vault and tied the workers with tape before rushing off with the cash, police said. Their investigation revealed that ¥524 million (US4.8 million) was stolen, police said. It was the second-biggest amount of money stolen in the country, following a 1994 bank heist in Kobe in western Japan where ¥540 million yen was taken.
■ Australia
Frequent sex helps sperm
Abstinence may make the heart grow fonder, but it doesn't boost the quality of your sperm. In fact, the more frequent the sex, the better the quality of the sperm, and the greater the chance of conception, an Australia fertility expert believes. Sydney IVF clinician and reproductive medicine specialist David Greening said his research showed that frequent ejaculation improved sperm quality. His findings defy the accepted wisdom that couples undergoing IVF treatment should abstain from sex before providing sperm. "There's no doubt that there's increased DNA damage to sperm with abstinence, and the quicker you get the sperm out, the less damage there is," Greening told Australia's AAP agency.
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