STILL MISSING: Japanese family members of kidnap victims are upset that the US may remove North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism as part of a deal
A group of Japanese angry with North Korea's kidnappings of compatriots left Tokyo yesterday on a mission to pressure the US not to remove Pyongyang from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.

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He's known as South Korea's "Mr Toilet" for his campaigns as a politician to beautify public restrooms. Sim Jae-duck's two-story toilet-shaped house was set to be finished yesterday to commemorate the inaugural meeting later this month of the World Toilet Association. The group, supported by the South Korean government, aims no less than to launch a "toilet revolution," by getting people to open their bathroom doors for the sake of improving worldwide hygiene.

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Chinese authorities closed an unregistered newspaper and arrested two "fake" reporters, state media reported yesterday.

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DEMANDS: Former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim has called for further street protests until reforms are made, but a state official warned against illegal gatherings
Malaysian police detained 245 people after firing tear gas and water canon to disperse thousands of people demanding electoral reforms in the biggest political street protest in nearly a decade, police said yesterday.

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TOUGH JOB: The country's fatal accident rate of two deaths per million tonnes of coal mined is 50 times higher than the US', but the government is starting to crack down on unsafe practices
Digging coal deep underground, Luo Xianglai learned to listen hard to the sounds the rocks made when struck with his pick-axe.

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Chinese author Jiang Rong (姜戎) beat four other shortlisted Asian writers to become the first winner of the Man Asian Literary Prize for his best-selling novel The Wolf Totem.

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A suicide attacker on foot blew himself up near a NATO convoy in southern Afghanistan yesterday, seriously wounding three civilians, while a roadside bomb killed a policeman in the east, officials said.

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Australia's embattled Prime Minister John Howard yesterday challenged opinion polls which indicate he will lose forthcoming elections in a landslide, saying he sees no "tribal hostility" to his government.

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DOWN TO THE WIRE: The postponement to Nov. 21 was made to allow time to draw up a list of consensus candidates. President Emile Lahoud's term expires on Nov. 24.
Parliament speaker Nabih Berri on Saturday postponed Lebanon's presidential election for a third time to allow rival political leaders a final chance to resolve a months-old deadlock.

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Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has repeated his pledge to lift a state of emergency as his allies met with opposition leaders to seek a way out of the country's worst political crisis in years.

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KRISTALLNACHT: Self-proclaimed anti-fascists in the streets of Prague came to prevent the banned neo-Nazi march. Outbreaks of violence were reported
Neo-Nazis trying to march through the Jewish quarter of Prague have clashed with self-proclaimed anti-fascists, and at least 250 people were arrested in outbreaks of violence around the capital.

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Prince Harry and his girlfriend Chelsy Davy have split up after the young royal missed her 22nd birthday party to attend the rugby union World Cup final, the News of the World reported yesterday.

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Five-meter high waves smashed a Russian tanker in half yesterday, spilling 1,300 tonnes of fuel oil into the Kerch Strait between Russia and Ukraine, officials said.

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DUELING SPEECHES: The presidential race heated up as Obama criticized Clinton over her votes on Iraq and Iran, and Clinton suggested Obama lacked experience
The Democratic race for president hit riotous new heights on Saturday, as leading party candidates traded blows before a boisterous soccer-style crowd of thousands of chanting supporters.

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The Democratic presidential race in the key early primary state of New Hampshire has tightened with Senator Barack Obama gaining ground on front-runner Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, according to a new opinion poll released yesterday.

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Some 20,000 demonstrators marched to Argentina's river border with Uruguay on Saturday to protest the impending startup of a paper pulp plant in the neighboring country they fear will pollute the environment.

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STAGE EXIT: Marquees were off and shows were canceled after a walkout by stagehands closed down many of the most famous theaters in New York just ahead of peak season
As if the Grinch really had stolen Christmas, children cried and parents were crestfallen. Confusion, surprise and anger played at ticket windows, and dispossessed theatergoers shared the sidewalks with grim pickets on Saturday as the stagehands' strike shut down most of Broadway's plays and musicals.

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The king of Spain told Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to "shut up" after the fiery leader repeatedly called a former Spanish prime minister a "fascist," ending a summit in spectacular fashion.

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■ CHINA

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