■ Malaysia
Wen visits France
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) arrived in France yesterday for a four day visit that looks set to be dominated by trade issues, with a large order for Airbus airliners said to be in the offing. Wen started his visit in Toulouse -- headquarters to the European air consortium -- where French officials are hopeful he will announce plans to buy up to 120 medium-range A320 planes. The prime minister was to hold talks with President Jacques Chirac in Paris early today, followed by a meeting with his opposite number Dominique de Villepin where officials have said a number of commercial and economic accords will be signed. He also has a meeting planned with the business organization MEDEF and will fly to Marseilles to view the nearby site of the future experimental nuclear fusion reactor ITER, in which China is a partner.
■ Malaysia
Minister to court Chinese
Malaysia's Home Minister Azmi Khalid said yesterday he was about to depart on a trip to China aimed at repairing relations after outrage over the alleged humiliation of a Chinese woman by police there. Khailid, who was asked by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to make the urgent trip, will meet with Chinese officials today. The move follows the release last month of a video clip in which a woman believed to be a Chinese national is forced to strip and perform squats in front of a Malaysian policewoman. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei (武大偉) last Wednesday summoned the Malaysian ambassador in Beijing to protest over the treatment of Chinese citizens, and Beijing has called on Malaysia to ensure their safety.
■ Ukraine
Woman burns father to death
Police launched a search for a woman who allegedly splashed her sleeping father with gasoline and set him ablaze. The 72-year-old unidentified man in southern Johor state was rushed to a hospital following the incident on Saturday, but he succumbed to his injuries. A murder inquiry was underway. The man's 33-year-old daughter, who had a history of mental illness, left home immediately after the incident and could not immediately be traced. The victim's 68-year-old widow said her husband had quarreled with their daughter earlier in the week because she refused to take her medication.
■ Sri Lanka
Norway warns of escalation
The Norwegian-led international ceasefire monitoring mission overseeing the country's uneasy truce with Tamil Tiger rebels warned yesterday that escalating hostilities could cause "irreparable damage" to the country's peace process. "The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission has observed a dangerous trend of violence in the North and the East in the last few days resulting in a number of deaths and injuries of both civilians and security forces personnel," the mission's chief, Hagrup Haukland said. The mission made an appeal for all parties "to do their utmost to calm down the volatile situation before it escalates any further."
■ Philippines
Joint effort rescues teachers
Muslim guerrillas and government troops took part in a rare joint assault and successfully rescued two kidnapped teachers yesterday in the southern Philippines, military officials and rebels said. Philippine marines and hundreds of Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels fanned out in search of schoolteachers Felipe Lacunies and his wife, Helen, after their abduction on Friday. A group of guerrillas found them abandoned in a hut in Piagapo town in Lanao del Sur province. Felipe, 58, said they were tightly guarded and were constantly taken on foot or horseback through the wilderness in Piagapo, southeast of Manila. After learning that government troops had tracked them, the kidnappers abandoned the two teachers in a hut, where they were found by the rebels.
RSS