■ AUSTRALIA
Chihuahua survives crash
A chihuahua that went paragliding in Australia strapped to its owner's chest survived when the pair crashed into a tree shortly after taking off, police said on Saturday. Victoria state police said a 42-year-old man set off early Friday evening for what they described as "a routine flight" with his pet dog. The man and his intrepid canine got into difficulties and crashed into a tree, where they became entangled 35m up. Police found the pair after the man called them from his mobile phone. The man received abrasions in the crash. The chihuahua was believed to be unharmed.
■ AUSTRALIA
Gay march marks 30th year
Up to 300,000 people were expected to line Sydney's streets to watch the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras yesterday as the largest gay pride march in the Asia Pacific region marks its 30th anniversary. Serving military personnel will for the first time be among the 10,000 costumed participants sashaying through the city's Oxford Street gay district in a sign of how much attitudes have changed since the first event in 1978. That march, when male homosexuality was still illegal in New South Wales state, was a demand for gay rights that ended with more than 50 arrests as police and protesters clashed.
■ MALAYSIA
Cops bust alleged drug ring
Police said yesterday they broke up an international drug trafficking ring that used college students to smuggle heroin overseas. Four African men aged between 30 and 45 were detained along with a 45-year-old Malaysian housewife following a raid on Tuesday on an apartment in a Kuala Lumpur suburb, said federal narcotics crime investigations director Zulhasnan Najib Baharuddin. Police also seized heroin and other drugs worth 1.7 million ringgit (US$531 million). Investigations showed the syndicate paid couriers up to US$11,000 each to allegedly smuggle heroin. The five suspects may be charged with drug trafficking, which carries a mandatory sentence of death by hanging if convicted, Baharuddin said.
■ MALAYSIA
Centenarians on rolls
The Election Commission has found nearly 9,000 people aged more than 100 on its electoral rolls as it heads for general elections later this week, raising suspicions that the books are "contaminated" with dead voters. The commission found the names of 8,666 registered voters with birth dates from a century or more ago, the New Straits Times said on Friday, quoting commission secretary Kamaruzaman Mohd Noor. They included two 128-year-olds, the daily said. "As far as the commission is concerned, as of Dec. 31 last year, these voters are still alive," Kamaruzaman said. The Election Commission says it relies on a dead voter's family or officials to notify it of the death and so rolls can be updated.
■ CHINA
Millions lack drinking water
The number of people facing drinking water shortages has more than doubled to 5.9 million because of a severe winter drought, state media reported. The figures released late on Friday jumped from 2.43 million a week earlier, the Xinhua news agency said, citing figures from the State Flood and Drought Relief Headquarters. A spokesman was quoted saying the situation was due to lingering and severe winter drought. Drought has seen parts of the Yangtze River hitting their lowest water levels in at least 140 years, leading to more than 40 ships running aground since October, state media said in January.
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