■JAPAN
Elderly urged not to drive
Elderly people in Tokyo who surrender their driver's licences will soon enjoy perks when they go to department stores or order pizza, police said on Wednesday. Tokyo police will next month launch the novel campaign in hopes of reducing the number of elderly motorists who should not be driving. "Please think about returning your licence when you start feeling worried or your family is concerned about your driving," says a leaflet to be handed out. The number of casualties in traffic accidents has declined in recent years thanks to a nationwide campaign against drink driving. But the number of crashes involving drivers aged 70 or older has jumped by 30 percent in Tokyo over the past six years, police said. A total of 39 places plan to offer benefits to elderly people who agree not to drive.
■ AUSTRALIA
Dodgy drinks canned
Two of the country's biggest brewers will end production of "energy" drinks with caffeine and high-alcohol content because of growing concerns over binge drinking. The Australian National Council on Drugs reported last month that 20 percent of 16-year-olds drink at harmful levels in any given week, while one in 200 children aged 12 also drink at harmful levels. The legal age for drinking alcohol is 18. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd last week announced a A$53 million (US$48 million) campaign to end an epidemic of binge drinking. The National Drug Research Institute estimates that one teenager dies and more than 60 are hospitalized each week from alcohol-related causes. Brewers Foster's and Lion Nathan both said yesterday they would voluntarily stop manufacturing and marketing alcoholic beverages containing "energy" additives such as caffeine and taurine.
■ THAILAND
Transsexuals in the clear
The military will stop branding transsexual conscripts as mentally disturbed, and will list them in a new "third category" as neither male nor female, a senior officer said on Wednesday. Men are required to report for the draft once they turn 21. Under the current system, transsexuals are rejected as suffering from "a mental disorder." Gay rights groups complained that the label penalizes transsexuals for the rest of their lives, because men are required to prove if they have completed their national service when they apply for jobs or bank loans. When transsexuals submit their military rejection forms declaring they have a mental disorder, they are automatically disqualified from many jobs and mortgages.
■ RUSSIA
Nine killed in Chechnya
Nine people died in armed clashes between security forces and rebels in the war-torn south Russian region of Chechnya, which has been relatively calm in recent years, Russian news agencies reported on Thursday. Five security officers, three separatists and a passerby were killed during the gunbattle in the Urus-Martanovskiy District on Wednesday night, Interfax reported. "A group of 10 to 15 militants were discovered in a wood on the outskirts of the village of Alkhazurovo ... An armed clash took place with law enforcement officers," a security source was quoted as saying by Interfax. The local resident was shot dead by escaping separatists when they fired on his car, agencies reported.
■ RUSSIA
SU-25 pilot dies in crash
An SU-25 strike aircraft crashed on Thursday in the Primoria region, killing its pilot, local news agencies reported. The local radio of the emergency situations ministry confirmed the plane crash report, saying the accident happened above a military range near Lake Khanka during a training flight. First reports said the plane exploded in the air. The air force temporarily grounded all SU-25 flights following the crash, Ria Novosti reported.
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