China cracks down on officials' family ties
International Herald Tribune
AUGUST 7, 2006
The Associated Press

BEIJING ASIA/PACIFIC

China has banned Communist Party and government officials from working with relatives or overseeing their businesses, state media said Monday, amid efforts to rein in rampant corruption.

The order issued Sunday by the ruling party adds to efforts by Chinese leaders to appear tough on graft that has sparked protests and threatened to erode acceptance of Communist rule.

Under the new rule, government and party leaders cannot employ their spouses, children and other relatives to act as subordinate officials, accountants, auditors or human resources personnel, the official Xinhua press agency said.

They are barred from controlling or supervising any industry in which family members have a financial stake and from serving in their home villages, it said. $@

SEOUL

Higher flood death toll leaks out of N. Korea

Floods last month in North Korea killed at least 549 people, with 295 others still missing, a pro-North Korean newspaper in Japan said Monday, reporting the highest acknowledged casualty figures from the disaster.

The floods in mid-July destroyed 4,438 homes and damaged more than 3,000 others, according to a report by the Choson Sinbo newspaper, which is published by a pro-North Korean association linked to the Pyongyang regime.

"Recovery efforts are proceeding at rapid speed as relief supplies are being sent to the afflicted areas," the newspaper said on its Web site, monitored in Seoul.

North Korea's official media reported that "hundreds" were killed in the disaster.

The Red Cross said last week that the floods had killed at least 151 people and left 29 missing, based on government-provided figures. A South Korean activist group has claimed that as many as 10,000 are dead or missing. $@ (AP)

KUALA LUMPUR

Prime minister denies allegations of nepotism

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of Malaysia denied accusations of nepotism and defended his image, which has come under heavy attack by his predecessor, in a television address broadcast nationally Monday.

After months of refusing to respond directly to criticism by the former leader, Mahathir bin Mohamad, the prime minister finally answered some of the most sensitive allegations.

Abdullah denied that his son, Kamaluddin Abdullah, 38, and son- in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin, 30, had profited from government favors or abused their connections.$@ (Reuters)

JAKARTA

Indonesian teenager hospitalized for bird flu

A 16-year-old Indonesian has tested positive for bird flu, according to results from a local laboratory.

The youth, from Bekasi on the outskirts of Jakarta, is being treated at the bird flu center at the city's Sulianti Saroso Hospital, said Runizar Ruesin, head of the Health Ministry's bird flu information center.

Ruesin said the patient had been in contact with sick chickens, the usual mode of transmission of the disease, which is endemic in poultry in nearly all of Indonesia's provinces. $@(Reuters)

MUMBAI, India

Thousands trapped by monsoon flooding

Relief workers in four Indian states increased efforts Monday to reach thousands marooned by flooding caused by heavy monsoon rains, officials said, as another 28 people were reported killed.

The authorities raced to shift about 30,000 people to higher ground when the city of Surat in Gujarat State was flooded after the Tapti River burst its banks, local officials said. $@(AFP)

BEIJING

Banned drug kills 3

A third person has died after receiving an antibiotic that the Chinese government banned last week after the death of a 6-year-old girl, the China Daily said Monday.

A man in his 70s died in Hebei Province, the newspaper said, without giving details. The second victim was a 48-year-old woman who died Wednesday in a hospital in Yichang, Hubei Province, earlier reports said.

The government banned use of the drug last week and ordered a recall after the girl in Heilongjiang Province slipped into a coma and died July 27 after receiving an injection for a cold.

The newspaper said the government had received reports of 78 others developing severe reactions from clindamycin phosphate glucose, manufactured by Anhui Huayuan Worldbest Biology Pharmacy. 

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