Party too corrupt, Hu tells Congress
THE Chinese Communist Party must rid itself of corruption and
bureaucracy if it is to survive and continue the economic reforms
that had transformed its economy into the world's fourth-biggest,
the President, Hu Jintao, declared yesterday.
Unrest in focus as officials gather for Pacific forum
THE Foreign Affairs Minister, Alexander Downer, arrived here last night to carry the flag for Australia at an important regional meeting, after the Prime Minister, John Howard, put political survival above statesmanship and opted out.
Explosion prompted terrorism raids
NAPALM bombs, Molotov cocktails and military-style assault rifles
were among an arsenal of weapons that prompted early-morning police
raids across New Zealand yesterday.
Britain cultivates Taliban defectors
THE British Government has thrown its backing behind an ambitious Afghan strategy to split the Taliban by securing the defection of its senior members and large numbers of their followers.
Russia told of plot to murder Putin in Iran
RUSSIAN special services have been warned of a plot to assassinate
the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, when he visits Iran this
week, Interfax news agency said yesterday.
Future borderline for children of Burmese illegal immigrants
WHEN the children at Hsa Mu Htaw school in Thailand grow up, they want to be pilots, engineers, teachers and soldiers, not exploited labourers like their parents in the country's border garment factories. But the chances of that are slim.
Israeli PM faces new corruption inquiry
THE Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, is now the subject of three corruption inquiries after the Justice Ministry ordered an investigation into grants and appointments he ordered as minister for trade.
Island nation may quit smoking
NUKU'ALOFA: The tiny Pacific nation of Niue could become the first
in the world to eliminate smoking under a plan to pay its smokers
to quit.
Lost marbles mourned in a moving moment
ATHENS: A collective gasp filled the air as a blue crate containing a 2.5-tonne slab of marble, universally viewed as one of the most important works of antiquity, was hoisted by a giant crane from the Acropolis.
Belgian Resistance hero dies
BRUSSELS: Countess Andree De Jongh, who set up an escape route that helped hundreds of British airmen escape the Nazi occupation in Belgium during World War II, has died, aged 90.
