■ AUSTRALIA
Troops pull out of Iraq
About 500 combat troops pulled out of their base in southern Iraq on Sunday, fulfilling an election promise by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to bring the soldiers home this year. A British military spokesman in the Iraqi city of Basra said the pullout from Talil base in Nassiriya was under way, but a spokesman for the governor of Dhi Qar Province said it had been completed, with US forces replacing the Australians. Australia was one of the first countries to commit troops to the Iraq war. In addition to the combat troops, it also deployed aircraft and warships to the Gulf to protect Iraq’s offshore oil platforms.
■ INDIA
Police kill Maoist rebels
At least four Maoist guerrillas were killed in combat with government forces in the eastern state of Jharkhand, police said yesterday. Police clashed with rebels from the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) on Saturday night in the Hazaribagh district, about 110km south of state capital Ranchi. “The security personnel asked a group of 25 rebels to surrender but the rebels opened fire. In the ensuing exchange, four Maoists were killed,” district police chief Praveen Kumar Singh said. “A female rebel was also arrested,” Singh said, adding that one police officer was injured in the encounter.
■ JAPAN
Fukuda leaves for Europe
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda left for Europe yesterday to hold talks with leaders from some G8 industrial nations ahead of next month’s summit in Japan. Fukuda said he hoped to have frank discussions about the economy, climate change, food security and other global concerns during his five-day tour of Germany, Britain and Italy.
■ MALAYSIA
Women told to tote condoms
The Health Ministry is urging women to carry condoms to protect themselves against being exploited by their partners, in view of the rising number of women contracting HIV, news report said yesterday. “This is not to debase them but to protect them,” Deputy Health Minister Abdul Latiff Ahmad told reporters after launching the International AIDS Memorial Day on Saturday in Selangor. It was the first time that the country openly celebrated International AIDS Memorial Day. The ministry said the trend of women contracting HIV was on the rise, the Star daily reported. Apart from sex workers, many women are believed to have been unknowingly infected by their husbands, president of the Malaysian AIDS Council Adeeba Kamarulzaman said. Last year three people died of AIDS everyday countrywide, the ministry said.
■ MALAYSIA
Turtle nests under siege
Authorities are carrying out night patrols near endangered Hawksbill turtle nesting sites after 4,000 eggs were stolen, reports said yesterday. State fisheries officials have begun the patrols near the turtle hatcheries in Malacca state amid fears of more thefts, the Star daily reported. Chief Minister Mohammad Ali Rustam said he would investigate how the eggs, worth US$3,000, could have been stolen over a month-long period from 30 turtle nesting sites along the coastline. “I will ask the [State council] member in charge of agriculture and rural development and fisheries department to look into the matter,” he told the paper. The World Conservation Union lists the Hawksbill turtle as critically endangered. A surge in demand for exotic turtles and eggs in Southeast Asia has been blamed for the rampant illegal trade.
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