■ JAPAN
Tokyo may ease sanctions
The government said yesterday it was ready to gradually lift its sweeping sanctions on North Korea if the communist state releases hostages Tokyo believes it is still holding. Japan has tense relations with North Korea in part due to its kidnappings of Japanese civilians in the 1970s and 1980s to train the regime's spies. North Korea returned five and their families in 2002 and says the case is closed, but Japan contends that more are alive and being kept under wraps. "If some of them can return home, it's progress," Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said. "But if progress is made, we will take action in accordance with that progress, which is natural for the sake of improvement of relations between Japan and North Korea."
■ AUSTRALIA
Dutch car wins solar race
Dutch solar car Nuna4 won the 20th World Solar Challenge, a 3,000km race through the Australian outback, race officials said yesterday. The Nuna4 took 33 hours and 17 minutes for the race and was the fourth win for the Dutch team Nuon Solar, which holds the race record at 29 hours and 11 minutes. Sun-powered cars from around the world raced from Darwin to Adelaide. Nuna4's average speed was 90.7kph.
■ MALAYSIA
Party draws veil over summit
The country's ruling party will forbid live telecasts of its annual congress from Nov. 5 to Nov. 9, an official said, after speakers from the Malay Muslim majority fueled racial anxiety among the country's ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities last year. Radzi Sheikh Ahmad, secretary-general of the United Malays National Organization, said broadcasts of the party's general assembly last year sparked controversy because some viewers were shocked that delegates used harsh rhetoric to debate race relations.
■ JAPAN
Officials suspected of rape
Two Ministry of Finance officials have been arrested on suspicion of raping a woman, a Tokyo police spokesman said yesterday. The two are suspected of raping the woman at her apartment early on the morning of Feb. 23, the spokesman said, adding that one man had denied the allegations while the other had broadly admitted them. In a statement the ministry called the arrests "extremely regrettable."
■ FRANCE
PLO disputes Jerusalem rail
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has begun legal action in the court at Nanterre against two prominent French companies in an attempt to stop work on a contested light-railway project in Jerusalem. When it begins operating in 2010, the railway will stretch for 14km through West and East Jerusalem, taking, it is estimated, 400,000 passenger-journeys a day. Its backers say it will ease road congestion. But the PLO, which is bringing the court case through its delegation in Paris, says Israel is trying to exert more control over the east of the city.
■ AUSTRIA
Activist against naked Jesus
An anti-pornography activist wants officials in Innsbruck to take down a large crucifix bearing a sculpture of a naked Jesus Christ. Martin Humer is pressuring authorities to remove the crucifix from a public square where it has been displayed for 20 years, public broadcaster ORF reported on Thursday. Humer, an 82-year-old former photographer, said he and about 100 supporters were organizing a protest for yesterday. Innsbruck Mayor Hilde Zach dismissed the fuss and said she would refuse to remove the crucifix, insisting it is a work of art and is in no way pornographic.
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