■ AUSTRALIA
Rudd pans Mugabe
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said yesterday he feared Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe would “steal” the upcoming election and called on African nations to promote democracy. “I’ve seen how Robert Mugabe can manipulate elections,” Rudd told reporters. “Our concern and the concern of most countries around the world is that Mr Mugabe will steal this election.” Rudd said the African Union and South African Development Council should “speak with one voice about the importance of democracy and the will of the people prevailing in Zimbabwe.” His remarks came after Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said the country would consider taking further action against Zimbabwe if Mugabe continues to threaten the outcome of a forthcoming presidential poll.
■PHILIPPINES
MILF commander killed
A notorious commander of the country’s largest Muslim separatist rebel group has been killed in a clash with government troops, an army spokesman said yesterday. Kiddie Abdulsalam, a commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), was responsible for several kidnapping-for-ransom incidents and bomb attacks in the south. He was killed on Saturday afternoon in a conflict with government soldiers in Kabasalan town in Zamboanga Sibugay Province, 810km south of Manila, Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner said. Brawner said the soldiers were serving an arrest warrant against Abdulsalam when the fighting erupted. Abdulsalam was facing kidnapping charges for the abduction of Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi last year. He was also behind the kidnapping of Italian priest Guiseppe Pierantoni in 2001. Both priests were freed unharmed after ransom was allegedly paid.
■ South Korea
North Koreans seek refuge
Two North Koreans defected to the south by boat early yesterday, a Coast Guard official said. They crossed the western sea border into South Korean waters, the official said. An official with the National Intelligence Service said the North Koreans would be questioned by intelligence officials later in the day. “The two expressed their intention to defect to South Korea,” the official said. Defections by boat are rare, with the vast majority of North Koreans fleeing over land through China and Southeast Asia.
■THAILAND
PM lauds local garlic
Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej yesterday used his weekly TV address to give tips on cooking with garlic, hoping to ward off protests by farmers of the pungent bulb. The colorful and controversial leader, using ingredients such as shrimp paste, chillies and mackerel, urged people to buy local rather than imported garlic, and rattled off his favorite garlic-infused dishes. “I did not come here today for ... a cooking demonstration, but I came here to show these ingredients,” said Samak, who was a television chef before his People Power Party was elected in December. Samak’s new government is facing the threat of protests from truck drivers, rice farmers, fishermen and now garlic growers, who want state assistance to battle soaring inflation and high fuel prices. “I bought the garlic to prevent them from blocking the roads,” he said.
■NEPAL
Hitler gift may be displayed
A car given by Adolf Hitler to a Nepali king is likely to be displayed in a palace museum after the Himalayan nation abolished the 239-year-old monarchy and the ousted King Gyanendra quit the palace. Officials said a 1939 Mercedes Benz presented by the Nazi leader to King Tribhuvan, Gyanendra’s grandfather, is now rusting in the main Narayanhiti palace grounds. It was left lying there for more than three years after an engineering college in Kathmandu, which was using it to train mechanics, said it did not have enough money and spare parts to restore the antique car. But now efforts are being made to display the car in the palace, which the government says will be turned into a museum.
RSS