`GREED': Rodolfo Lozada told a Senate inquiry that the elections chief threatened to have him killed if the Chinese firm ZTE lost the bid for a telecoms contract
Allies of Philippine President Gloria Arroyo forced the government to approve a telecommunications contract that would have given them US$130 million in kickbacks, a Senate hearing was told yesterday.

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OPEN ARMS: While Thaksin's wife has said he would return by April, an enthusiastic minister said it would be even better if Thaksin could come back tomorrow
The new Thai government said yesterday it would welcome deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra back to the country but that it would not interfere in the corruption case against him.

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The alleged mastermind of an organ transplant operation in India that illegally removed hundreds of kidneys -- sometimes from unwilling donors -- has been arrested at a jungle resort in southern Nepal, an official said yesterday.

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Japan said yesterday that dumplings behind a nationwide scare were likely contaminated with pesticide at a factory near Beijing, as a growing number of consumers shunned Chinese produce.

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A Somali immigrant tried to hijack a New Zealand domestic flight yesterday, stabbing both pilots, threatening to blow up the twin-propeller plane and demanding that it fly to Australia before she was subdued, police said.

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A Cambodian genocide victim confronted a former Khmer Rouge leader for the first time in a courtroom yesterday, demanding to know who was responsible for the "hellish regime" that caused the deaths of some 1.7 million people, including her parents.

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OUTRAGEOUS: Charles Lee Thornton allegedly entered the government building in St Louis after killing a policeman, then shot four people inside
A gunman with a history of acrimony against civic leaders stormed City Hall during a council meeting, killing two police officers and three city officials before law enforcers fatally shot him, authorities said. The mayor was critically injured in the rampage.

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The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on Thursday canceled its observer missions for Russia's March 2 presidential election because of restrictions imposed by Moscow.

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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday that he hoped relations between the world body and the US would improve after US President George W. Bush leaves office next year.

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■ JAPAN

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