■ South Korea
Web suicide pact uncovered
Three South Koreans who forged a suicide pact over the Internet have been found dead in a park, police said yesterday. The three, in their 20s and mid-30s, were found lying on benches in Seoul's Namsan Park on Sunday. An empty bottle of cyanide was found next to their bodies, along with a suicide note. Police have detained a 19-year-old female college student for allegedly assis-ting the suicide. She said she decided not to participate at the last minute after a phone call from her boyfriend.
■ India
Traders try to halt demolition
Thousands of shops in illegal buildings marked for demolition in New Delhi will be shuttered for three days through tomorrow as their owners protest the municipal authority's plans, a protest organizer said. The traders planned to demon-strate outside the New Delhi state legislature yesterday, and the federal government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court calling for the state government to halt the demolitions until a 15-year federal development plan for housing and businesses in the capital is approved.
■ Australia
Test-tube koalas born
Scientists unveiled three test-tube koala younglings yesterday as part of an artificial insemination program to preserve the vulnerable mammal. The scientists said the program would lead to the creation of the world's first koala sperm bank, which will enable researchers to screen out koala diseases. A total of 12 koala younglings were produced using test-tube insemination. The koalas were conceived using a new breeding technology that uses sperm mixed with a special solution to prolong the sperm's shelf-life.
■ Pakistan
British royals start tour
Britain's Prince Charles and wife Camilla met President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz yesterday as they began their first trip to the country. "The British government and its people are appreciative of the steps taken by Pakistan to counter extremism and terrorism," a British diplomat quoted the prince as telling Musharraf. Security arrangements are likely to limit the royal couple's contact with ordinary people during their first visit to a country where close to 750,000 British Muslims have family.
■ Malaysia
Mahathir's role debated
Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad could be dumped as an adviser to key government-linked companies and agencies if he continues to criticize the government, reports said yesterday. Senior members of the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) are expected to discuss Mahathir's roles as adviser to national oil company Petronas, car maker Proton and the Langkawi Development Authority on Thursday. "Let the UMNO Supreme Council discuss it first and then it is up to the prime minister to decide," Mohamed Khaled Nordin, a member of the council, was quoted as saying by the Malay-language Utusan Malaysia.
■ China
Online cafes may ban kids
Lawmakers are considering banning children under the age of 18 from Internet cafes because the centers have become hotbeds for online gaming and crime, state press reported yesterday. A draft law now before the National People's Congress (NPC) also sought to address the problem of children succumbing to online gaming addictions, the China Daily said. The chairman of the NPC's law committee, Yang Jingyu (楊景宇), told the NPC on Sunday that he believed Internet cafes played a "negative role" in youngsters' development. "If there were no Internet cafes, students would be able to concentrate on their studies better," the paper quoted him as saying.
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