■ Japan
Peacekeepers on alert
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's top policy planner said yesterday that Japan is preparing to send peacekeepers to Iraq, but didn't elaborate on the timing or size of the deployment. "There is a substantial need for rebuilding infrastructure in southeastern Iraq, and we want to send troops one way or another to get involved in the operation," Fukushiro Nukaga told a news program on public broadcaster NHK. Nukaga said a small team will be sent initially to establish an operations base, with more troops to follow. He didn't elaborate on exactly when the troops would go, or how many, but said it is expected by the end of the year.
■ Hong Kong
March protests harbor plan
About 800 people marched to government headquarters yesterday to protest a land reclamation project that critics say will further shrink Hong Kong's famed Victoria Harbor. "Protect our harbor! Stop reclamation!" chanted the demonstrators, who held a massive blue banner signed by thousands of people against the project. Demonstrators want the government to halt the reclamation of a planned 18-hectare strip in downtown Central district where it intends to build new roads to improve traffic. They also condemned those who allegedly issued threats against a leading conservationist, who successfully challenged in July a government reclamation project in Wanchai district.
■ Indonesia
Troops kill four rebels
Indonesian troops said yesterday they had killed four more separatist rebels in Aceh province, where a major campaign against the guerrilla movement is entering its sixth month. The four rebels were killed in separate clashes in three districts on Saturday, said military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ahmad Yani Basuki. Soldiers seized a Kalashnikov rifle and a handgun from the rebels, Basuki said.
■ Afghanistan
Loot gives nation a boost
It lay hidden for 2,000 years in Afghanistan, eluded the Taliban and escaped dozens of adventurers and bounty hunters. Now the Bactrian hoard, one of the world's greatest archaeological collections, has been found. Afghan President Hamid Karzai discovered the 20,000 gold coins and artefacts, worth tens of millions of dollars, in a sealed vault under the main palace in the capital, Kabul, after ordering it to be opened earlier this year. No one expected it to contain the treasure, dating from Alexander the Great's conquest of Afghanistan in 327BC.
■ Australia
Doctors deliver slug warning
Australian doctors have issued a bizarre warning about eating slugs after a student contracted a potentially fatal brain disease when he swallowed some of the slimy gastropods for a dare. The medicos said there had been numerous cases of meningitis since 1971 caused by people eating garden snails or slugs. One child died after eating snails and one patient contracted meningitis after eating lettuce covered with snail slime, a report in the Medical Journal of Australia due to be published today said. Sydney University parasitologist John Walker said the most recent case was a Sydney student who ate two slugs as a dare for 20 Australian dollars (US$13.80). Walker reported the man's friend also swallowed some slugs as part of the dare but promptly vomited them up, foregoing his A$20.
■ United States
Iraq contracts draw flak
Hoping to speed up reconstruction work in Iraq, US officials in Baghdad are offering contracts totaling hundreds of millions of dollars, but giving companies as little as three days to submit competing bids. Procurement experts said the extremely short deadlines were legal, but some warned that they could stifle open competition, favor well-connected contractors at the expense of outsiders and lead to higher costs. "Three days is absurd," said Steven Schooner, a professor of procurement policy at George Washington University's law school. "You can objectively conclude that in the United States we don't do this. It's highly unusual." Two weeks ago, the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq gave companies three days to bid on a contract to supply the Iraqi government as many as 850 personal computers as well as telephones, fax machines and other office equipment.
■ United States
Monopoly victor crowned
A rolling Monopoly game that started on a chartered train dubbed the "Reading Railroad" ended with a victorious national champion. Matt McNally, of Irvine, California, took the top prize Saturday, walking away with US$15,140 in real money -- equal to the amount of funny money in a Monopoly game. Forty-eight contestants from around the US competed to become this year's national champion, playing elimination rounds on the chartered train. It was wrapped in giant images of Marvin Gardens, Pennsylvania and Baltic Avenue and other Monopoly game properties. The players climbed aboard in Chicago and started rolling the dice as the train chugged toward Atlantic City for the finals. Besides taking home the money, McNally will represent the US in the 2004 World Monopoly Championship in
Hong Kong.
■ United Kingdom
Starvation stunt set to finish
US showman David Blaine was to swap his plastic box by London's River Thames for a hospital ward when his 44-day starvation stunt ended yesterday. Filthy, unshaven and complaining of black-outs, Blaine will be taken to hospital by ambulance to begin what he describes as the most dangerous stage of his feat. "The hardest part is when you come out and you are brought back to nourishment," he said in a recent interview. The illusionist will build his strength slowly with mineral supplements before tackling solid food, a spokesman said. Blaine has been suspended in a see-through box beneath a crane next to London's landmark Tower Bridge since Sept. 5, apparently with no food and only one tube for water and another for urinating.
■ Tanzania
Man cuts off genitals
A Tanzanian man cut off his genitals in an attempt to win sympathy from creditors after squandering their money on prostitutes and alcohol, a newspaper reported on Saturday. The 24-year-old reached the decision after realizing he could not pay back millions of shillings lent to him by friends and relatives to invest in a business venture. The Guardian newspaper said the man's condition was improving after he received treatment at his local hospital in the east African country's northern Manyara region. The report said it was the second such incident in the area in two months. Another man slashed off his genitals upon failing to settle a 300,000 shilling (US$287) debt.
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Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
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