■ Myanmar
Constitution forum to resume
The military government has said it will resume a convention to draft the country's new constitution next month, according to state-run radio and television. Lieutenant General Thein Sein, a top member of the ruling junta, said that the National Convention, which adjourned in January, will resume in the second week of next month. He spoke on Saturday at Naypyidaw, the new administrative capital 400km north of Yangon. The convention is the first stage of a seven-step "roadmap to democracy" proposed by the junta, which however has never announced a set schedule for a return to electoral democracy.
■ Australia
Lefty dogs in the minority
Fifteen percent of boxers are southpaws -- the dogs, not fighters -- according to the findings of a study. Scientists at the University of Sydney who are conducting a three-year study into what makes a successful working dog have examined whether being left-pawed, right-pawed or ambidextrous indicates an animal's suitability for a career in law enforcement or as a guide dog for the blind. The research team, studying 270 dogs attempting to steady their food containers, concluded that 15 percent are left pawed, the same proportion right pawed and the rest showed no preference.
■ China
Military to rein in roadhogs
The government is cracking down on military vehicles that use their special status to ignore Beijing traffic rules and create chaos in the capital's crowded streets, state media said yesterday. Beijing residents are used to the sight of vehicles with military license plates speeding or running red lights, but the Beijing News reported this will now have to stop. The top brass has decided to launch a campaign to instruct military drivers in the need to drive responsibly, the paper said. It did not mention if or how violators would be punished.
■ North Korea
Chinese tourists banned
Pyongyang has suddenly banned nearly all Chinese tour groups, citing a need to fix its roads and railways, travel agencies in China said yesterday. North Korea's National Tourism Administration issued the notice to Chinese tour organizers in the middle of last month, said an executive with the Guotai Travel Agency in Dandong, a Chinese border city. "They said it was because of maintenance of railways and roads," said the executive, who also spoke on condition of anonymity. An official with the China International Travel Service said that North Korea had explained the quota for Chinese tourists had been used up for this year.
■ Japan
Loud woman kills husband
An 86-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion that she killed her 90-year-old husband by repeatedly stabbing then suffocating him with a plastic bag, police said yesterday. Tsuruno Yagi told investigators that the violent behavior of her husband, Shiro, drove her to murder, according to media reports. Tsuruno is suspected of stabbing Shiro several times in their home in Zama, about 40km east of Tokyo, early on Saturday, and then killing him by blocking his mouth and nose with a plastic bag, according to a local police official. "I tend to speak loud, and when I talked to my husband he sometimes beat me, saying I was too loud. So I killed him," Tsuruno was quoted by Kyodo News agency as telling investigators.
■ Ireland
Sheen set to hit the books
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