■ Malaysia
Abdullah rebukes official
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has publicly rebuked a deputy minister for being rude to foreigners in a spiraling scandal over a nude video of a Chinese-looking woman forced to strip in police custody. Abdullah, who rarely singles out senior government officials for criticism, reprimanded Deputy Internal Security Minister Noh Omar on Wednesday for apparently defending the police in the stripping of the unidentified woman. A secretly shot video on a camera phone showed the naked woman, who appears to be Chinese, being made to perform squats in the presence of a policewoman.
■ China
Alarm over beatings
The Vatican expressed alarm on Wednesday over reports of arrests and beatings of Roman Catholic priests in China. The reports by a Vatican-affiliated news agency cause "pain" and if verified must be condemned, said a statement released by Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls. The AsiaNews agency said this week that Chinese police arrested six priests in Zhengding county on Nov. 18, and beat two of them. Police in Zhengding and Gaocheng denied the report, saying that no such arrests were carried out. Navarro-Valls also mentioned reports of violence against Franciscan sisters in Xian.
■ Australia
AIDS infector sentenced
A Sydney man was sentenced to 12 years in prison yesterday for knowingly infecting two women tourists from Ireland and Germany with HIV. Stanislas Kanengele-Yondjo, 42, pleaded guilty to two counts of maliciously causing grievous bodily harm after infecting two women with HIV two years ago. Both women have since been diagnosed as HIV positive. The Sydney District Court heard that Kanengele-Yondjo told both women he had no sexually transmitted diseases, despite having being diagnosed as HIV positive in February 1999. Judge Warwick Andrews sentenced Kanengele-Yondjo to consecutive six-year prison terms for each of the counts against him, with a non-parole period of nine years.
■ Japan
Tamiflu not linked to deaths
No clear link has been found between the antiviral drug Tamiflu, used to treat victims of bird flu, and the deaths of 12 children in Japan, the Japan Pediatric Society said in a statement on Wednesday. The symptoms observed in the 12 cases could also be seen in other patients who were not given the drug, which is used to treat other forms of influenza, it said. The group added it was possible that the children's influenza had worsened a separate underlying medical condition, leading to the deaths. The society's findings come weeks after the US Food and Drug Administration also concluded that Tamiflu was not connected to the deaths.
■ Japan
Iraqi head to visit Tokyo
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari will visit Tokyo on Monday for talks on Japanese support for his country's reconstruction, Japan's Foreign Ministry said yesterday. Jafari, making his first visit to Japan, will meet with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to discuss the role of Japanese non-combat military personnel in Iraq and bilateral relations, the ministry said. Japan is expected to decide soon the details of its military deployment in Iraq, which will expire on Dec. 14. Japan's Kyodo News service reported on Wednesday that the Cabinet would decide on Dec. 8 to allow the troops to stay for another year, but that it may decide later to withdraw the troops around May.
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