■ Philippines
Candidate murdered
A candidate for congress in May 14 elections was shot dead early on Saturday in what police said was likely a politically-motivated slaying. Vicente Diestro Rabaya of the Nationalist People's Coalition was found dead in the front seat of his car in the Manila suburb of Quezon City. Clemente Barcena, head of the Quezon City homicide division, said Rabaya, 43, had been shot in the head and body. Rabaya's father was quoted by local media as saying he believed his son was killed by hired gunmen. Political killings are common in the country.
■ South Korea
Dust warning issued
The government yesterday issued a nationwide warning against yellow dust blowing in from China and Mongolia, advising people to stay indoors to avoid the choking mix of sand and pollutants. Officials at the Meteorological Administration said the dust had blanketed much of the country yesterday, with visibility in the capital Seoul at just 3km. Yellow dust -- fine sand from Mongolia's Gobi Desert which sometimes includes toxic chemical smog emitted by Chinese factories -- usually hits the country in the spring. It can cause respiratory disorders.
■ Singapore
Paddleboarder arrives
An Australian paddleboarder arrived at the Sentosa island yesterday, his knees covered with scrapes, after paddling seven hours across one of the world's busiest shipping lanes and back -- all in the name of charity. Jackson English, 31, of Avoca Beach, New South Wales, was cheered by family and friends at the end of his feat, for which he hopes to raise about US$60,000 in donations. English, who teaches at United World College of Southeast Asia, is believed to be the first person to "paddleboard" from Singapore to Indonesia's Batam island and back, a total of 80km.
■ Indonesia
Pilots argued before crash
Two pilots had been arguing moments before their Garuda Airlines passenger jet crashed last month at an Indonesian airport, leaving 21 people dead, a senior investigator said in a television interview broadcast yesterday. The Boeing 737-400 caught fire after overshooting the runway on landing at Yogyakarta airport on March 7. Chief investigator Tatang Kurniadi said his preliminary findings would point to human error and "absent-mindedness" as the cause of the disaster. "I worry that this accident came from the absent-mindedness from the cockpit," Kurniadi said on the Nine Network television broadcast in Australia.
■ Thailand
Millions suffer from drought
Scorching weather and lack of rain has left more than 8 million people suffering a drought that is ruining their farmland, officials in Bangkok said yesterday. The drought has hit 58 of the kindgom's 76 provinces, the government department responsible for disaster prevention and management said in a statement. Most of them are in the north of the country, a region only just recovering from a choking haze caused by forest fires. The department said about 18,210 hectares of farmland had been affected, along with 8.23 million people. Authorities said water pumps were being provided to help farmers and residents. The government warned that the northern, northeastern, eastern and central provinces would face more hot weather in the next 24 hours.
■ Sapin
Bomb materials seized
Authorities said on Saturday they smashed a commando unit of the armed Basque separatist group ETA and seized large quantities of bomb-making materials. The announcement came just hours ahead of a meeting by ETA's banned political arm, Batasuna, which was attended by 15,000 people in the northern Basque city of Bilbao. The commando unit, known as "Donosti" and based near San Sebastian, is suspected of being "behind 24 attacks in Spain between 2004 and 2006," Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said. Materials to make around 170kg of explosives were recovered and eight people arrested, including the suspected head of the unit, Jose Angel Lerin Sanchez.
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