■ AUSTRALIA
Terror case probed
A judicial inquiry was ordered yesterday into the bungled case against an Indian doctor arrested over failed bomb attacks in Britain last year. Attorney-General Robert McClelland said the inquiry into the case against Muslim medic Mohamed Haneef was needed to maintain public confidence in the country's anti-terrorist measures. "Australians are entitled to be reassured that their national security agencies are functioning as effectively as they can be and that anti-terrorism laws are being appropriately enforced," McClelland told reporters. "Understandably, the Haneef case has prompted some in the community to question this."
■ INDIA
Murder, rape charges in Goa
A suspect has been arrested and charged with the rape and murder of a British teenager found dead on a southern Indian beach last month -- the second suspect charged in the case, police said yesterday. The bruised and partially clothed body of Scarlett Keeling was found on Feb. 18 on Anjuna beach in Goa, a tiny state with a coastline crowded with tourist resorts. Police have charged Placido Carvalho with rape and murder, senior police official Bosco George said. Carvalho was one of the men seen with Keeling the night before her body was found.
■ JAPAN
Domestic abuse rising
Police said yesterday they received a record number of domestic abuse cases last year, with people in their 30s most likely to be both victims and perpetrators. It was the highest number of cases reported since 2001, when the government created a law to prevent domestic abuse from escalating. The law lets courts put restraining orders on abusive partners. Experts have attributed the rise in cases in part to a growing willingness by victims to come public about domestic abuse. Police received 20,992 complaints or reports of injuries from domestic violence last year, up 15 percent from 2006, the National Police Agency said.
■ THAILAND
Governor faces charges
Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosoyodhin suspended his official duties yesterday to face corruption allegations in the city's purchase of 315 fire trucks and 30 fire-fighting boats from Austria's Steyr Company (ASC) in 2004. Apirak, whose term as Bangkok governor will end in September, is one of six people charged by the Assets Scrutiny Committee of involvement in the dubious 6.7 billion baht (US$213 million) purchase of fire-fighting equipment for the capital from the Austrian firm Steyr. The purchase was signed by former Bangkok governor Samak Sundaravej on Aug. 27, 2004, his last day in office. Samak, who is now prime minister, also faces corruption charges by the ASC.
■ CHINA
Police use tear gas
Chinese police shot tear gas at around 1,500 factory workers from a wood furniture company who have been on strike and clashed over contracts, a factory manager said. The US government-funded Radio Free Asia said a tear gas canister struck and killed one female worker at the plant in south China and police had detained 14 others in a clash. Police in Boluo County, Guangdong Province, could not be reached for a comment. An online appeal outlining the workers' plight and apparently written by one of them said that in January the factory forced all employees to sign blank contracts before leaving for the Lunar New Year holiday.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Erotic television ad banned
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