■ Tokelau
Self-government vote fails
Voters have failed to endorse a plan for self-government in a UN-mandated referendum. Some 60 percent of voters in the tiny South Pacific territory, with a population of 1,500, approved the proposal. But a 66 percent majority was needed for the vote to be binding. The microstate, seized by Britain in 1889 and handed to New Zealand to administer in 1926, would have become one of the world's smallest self-governing territories if the vote had succeeded. Without an airport or sea port and linked to the outside world only by telephone and cargo ship, Tokelau had been expected to approve the plan and then sign a support treaty with New Zealand. Tokelau administrator Neil Walter said the referendum had "failed to produce the requisite two-thirds majority vote in favor of self-government in free association with New Zealand."
■ Thailand
Court clears prime minister
The Constitutional Court yesterday ruled out investigating whether Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had mixed business and politics while in office. The ruling was a reprieve for the former tycoon, who has faced mounting calls for his resignation and faced losing his job if a court probe found him guilty. "The Constitutional Court agreed not to investigate into a petition submitted by 28 senators. Eight judges voted to reject the petition, and six judges supported the petition," court secretary-general Paiboon Varahapaitoon told a news conference. Paiboon said the petition failed to provide enough evidence to support the senators' allegations. "The petition lacks substantial proof that the prime minister had been involved in corporate management."
■ China
Heavy metals in seafood
Dangerous levels of heavy metals have been found in a significant proportion of seafood in one of China's major fish-producing areas, prompting officials to warn of the potentially harmful impact on human health, media reports said yesterday. An investigation of four major freshwater lakes and offshore areas of eastern Jiangsu Province showed cadmium, lead, mercury, chromium and zinc were present in 41 percent of all fish, the China Daily reported. The investigation found seashells, shellfish and large fish were the most severely contaminated.
■ Hong Kong
Spy charge deadline passes
A deadline for prosecuting a Hong Kong journalist held on spy charges in China has passed without word from authorities, his wife said yesterday. Ching Cheong (程翔) remains incommunicado despite the lapse on Wednesday of a 300-day Chinese legal limit set to decide whether a trial should be held or not, his wife Mary Lau (劉敏儀) said. Ching, 55, a China correspondent for Singapore's Straits Times, was arrested in April in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou and has been held under house arrest in Beijing. China's state Xinhua news agency has said Ching set up "a number of channels for espionage" in Hong Kong and China for Taiwanese intelligence between early 2000 and March last year.
■ Japan
US asks Tokyo to pay up
The US has asked Japan to pay most of the estimated US$7.6 billion needed for the partial relocation of US Marines from a base in southern Japan to Guam, a newspaper reported yesterday. The bulk of the cost, around US$4.7 billion, will go towards building housing for the Marines and their families, the Yomiuri Shimbun said. The steps are part of the Pentagon's troop realignment plans in the region, and a bilateral agreement reached by the countries in October would give Tokyo greater responsibility for security in the Asia-Pacific. Under the accord, 7,000 US Marines on Japan's southern island of Okinawa will be moved to Guam, a process expected to take several years.
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