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World News Quick Take

■ AUSTRALIA

Gay Jesus play offends

Church leaders have condemned a play shortly to open in Sydney depicting Jesus as a gay man who is seduced by Judas, a report said yesterday. The play, named Corpus Christi, is due to open next month as part of the city's annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, Sydney's Sun-Herald newspaper reported. A senior Sydney churchman called the play "historical nonsense." "It is deliberately, not innocently, offensive and they're obviously having a laugh about it," Robert Forsyth, Anglican bishop of South Sydney, was quoted as saying. Apart from the relations between Jesus and Judas, the play also features Jesus conducting a gay marriage between two apostles.

■ AUSTRALIA

Activists pan 'posing'

A militant anti-whaling group trying to stop Japanese hunters in the icy Southern Ocean yesterday accused rival Greenpeace of "ocean posing" after it refused to hand over the coordinates of the fleet. Sea Shepherd Conservation Society said it was forced to move away from the area by Australian officials aboard a customs vessel late last week when it made a rendezvous to pick up two of its activists rescued from a Japanese whaling ship. As a result it lost track of the fleet, its chief Paul Watson said from the society's ship the Steve Irwin. Greenpeace officials on board their vessel the Esperanza know the location as it has been tracking the mother ship Nisshin Maru, but Watson said that Greenpeace had refused to divulge the coordinates.

■ AUSTRALIA

Rudd visits flood defenses

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd visited a flood-threatened town in his home state yesterday as emergency services said they were battling to build defenses to stop rising waters. Floods have hit large parts of southern Queensland and northern New South Wales for weeks, with the latest surge threatening the Queensland towns of Charleville and Emerald. The state's fire and rescue service said it had raised levees around Charleville to 7.5m, with emergency workers flying in from New Zealand to help. "I wanted to come here myself to make sure that anything that could be done, has been done," said Rudd as he toured Charleville with Queensland Premier Anna Bligh.

■ China

Beijing to battle pollution

Beijing will try to cut emissions and curb pollution for the Summer Olympics but it will be an uphill task to clean the city's air, the mayor was quoted as saying yesterday. Guo Jinlong (郭金龍) vowed to provide services in "high-level and high-caliber ways" for the Aug. 8 to Aug. 24 Games, the official Xinhua news agency cited him as saying. "The task to control pollution and traffic congestion is still arduous," Guo said, adding that Beijing will cooperate with neighboring cities to improve environmental conditions.

■ MALAYSIA

PM's tours hint of new polls

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has started a new round of nationwide tours in the clearest indication yet that national elections are imminent. Abdullah, who has been tight-lipped on the polling date, has had his hands full with unprecedented street protests, a slowing economy and public anger over high fuel and food prices. However, the New Straits Times in a front page spread said members of his Barisan Nasional coalition government believe the election could probably be held in March.

■ UNITED STATES

Border guard killed

A border guard was struck and killed on Saturday while trying to flag down two cars that were speeding toward the Mexican border near Yuma, Arizona, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said. "The agent was struck and killed while attempting to stop two vehicles believed to have illegally entered the country and were absconding back into Mexico," he said. "I have spoken to the Mexican ambassador [Arturo Sarukhan] who gives me both his condolences and deep assurance that their government will be resolute in tracking down the perpetrators, and bringing them to swift justice."

■ UNITED STATES

Veteran correspondent dies

Frances Lewine, a White House correspondent during the administrations of six US presidents, from Dwight Eisenhower to Jimmy Carter, died on Saturday of a probable stroke. She was 86. Lewine joined the Washington bureau of the Associated Press in 1956 to cover general assignments, including White House social events and other activities of the first family. Lewine became a leader among women journalists in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, protesting discrimination against women in jobs and assignments. The efforts of Lewine and others led to such groups as the National Press Club and the Gridiron Club opening their membership to women. She had planned to celebrate her 87th birthday yesterday at Charles Town Races in West Virginia, where friends had arranged to have a race named in her honor.

■ GUATEMALA

UN to support investigations

UN officials will support investigations into organized crime activities in Guatemala, a UN official said on Saturday. The officials will be working through the UN-supported International Committee against Impunity, UN official Lynn Pascoe said in an interview in the Guatemalan daily El Periodico. "This will be the first time that the United Nations participates in criminal investigations," said Pascoe, adding that several UN officials are "waiting to see if this works." The UN officials will only participate in investigations at the request of the government, Pascoe said.

■ MEXICO

Agents arrest officers

Federal agents arrested four police officers just south of the Texas border on Saturday and are investigating where the group got their guns, police said. Federal police and soldiers detained the officers in Nuevo Laredo across the border from Laredo, Texas, a spokesman for the Public Safety Department said. Local media reported the officers were carrying guns not registered to their unit in Tamaulipas state. "The army has stepped in to investigate the origin of their weapons," he said, declining to give his name. Officials say powerful weapons smuggled across the border from the US are fueling ongoing violence.

■ ARGENTINA

Police seize cocaine stash

Authorities seized more than a tonne of cocaine with a street value estimated at US$22 million in one of the biggest drug busts in years, the government and police said on Saturday. Police discovered the drugs in a warehouse in the outskirts of Buenos Aires and arrested at least 10 people, including several former police and army officers, the newspaper Clarin reported on its Web site. The bust came after a lengthy investigation into a company that allegedly imported and exported protective panels for grass, Security and Justice Minister Anibal Fernandez said.