■ AustraliaHoward sworn in
Australian Prime Minister John Howard was sworn in for a fourth term on Tuesday as his conservative government vowed to maintain troops in Iraq after a car bomb in Baghdad injured three Australian soldiers. Howard, a staunch supporter of George W. Bush and one of the first to commit troops to the US-led war in Iraq, won a thumping victory at an Oct. 9 election fought on economic management and a commitment to leave Australia's troops in Iraq. Australian troops in Baghdad came under attack on Monday for the first time since the end of the Iraq war when a car bomb exploded injuring three soldiers and damaging their armored convoy near the Australian embassy.
■ Indonesia
Investors put off
Indonesia's new President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told prosecutors yesterday that rampant corruption and poor law-enforcement were scaring off foreign investors, and said he would monitor their performance. Yudhoyono, who took office last week, later addressed a closed-door gathering of police officers, telling them to focus efforts on battling graft and terrorism, according to national police spokesman Major General Paiman, who goes by a single name. Foreign investors have largely deserted the world's most populous Muslim nation in recent years because of corruption, security concerns and an unpredictable legal system.
■ Malaysia
Running backwards record
A 22-year-old Malaysian electronic engineer has claimed a national record for running backwards, saying he "wanted to do something meaningful in life". S. Moganasundar won a place in the popular "Malaysia Book of Records" after running backwards for 30km, the official Bernama news agency reported Monday. He took three hours, 30 minutes and 35 seconds to complete 75 laps of the 400m track at the Perak Stadium in the northeastern town of Ipoh. "I am happy I did this. I always wanted to do something meaningful in life," he told Bernama.
■ Japan
He only wants to commit
An unemployed ex-gangster in Japan in love with a 15-year-old girl chopped off his little finger and mailed it to her father twice in an unsuccessful bid to prove his commitment, police said yesterday. Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, 36, was arrested Monday after the teenager's father told police the finger had been sent to him again, after marking it return to sender the first time, a police spokesman said. When he first sent the finger, Yoshikawa allegedly enclosed a note: "Please let us go out in exchange for this finger. I will send it again and again until you accept my request." The father, 43, opposed the relationship -- and was unpersuaded by the finger.
■ Australia
Yacht hits Opera House
A former America's Cup yacht on a harbor jaunt slammed into the Sydney Opera House on Tuesday, tipping crew into the water, breaking off its keel and capsizing in front of a big lunchtime crowd at the much-loved Australian icon. The impact crippled the 22m multimillion-dollar FT Spirit, which had mostly experienced sailors aboard when the embarrassing accident happened. "We came in too close and hit the bottom and as we did the boat pivoted on the keel and it ripped the big 20-tonne of lead that keeps the boat upright right off," deckhand Benny Mawson said.
■ West BankArafat receives treatment
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat underwent a minor diagnostic procedure on Monday and doctors found no major ailment after a week of concerns over his health, a Cabinet minister said. Another senior official said Arafat, 75, was "still in a weakened condition and under medication." But the official, who said he had spoken to Arafat, gave no indication the problem was life-threatening. Doctors carried out the endoscopy after Arafat complained of a stomach ailment and had been vomiting, officials said. Arafat's physicians had said he was suffering from an acute viral infection after he displayed flu-like symptoms.
RSS