Briefly: Mahathir says Malaysia now a 'police state'
International Herald Tribune
OCTOBER 24, 2006
The Associated Press

KUALA LUMPUR ASIA/PACIFIC

Mahathir Mohamad, the former prime minister of Malaysia, accused his successor on Monday of turning the country into a police state and suggested that he was personally involved in corruption in the UN oil- for-food program in Iraq.

Mahathir's remarks signaled a complete breakdown of efforts to end his bitter political row with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. The two had met on Sunday in an attempt to resolve months of acrimonious attacks that Mahathir has unleashed against Abdullah's administration.

Mahathir claimed that the government was preventing him from airing his grievances, and said that the police had pressured people who invited him to speak at public gatherings, including at branches of the ruling United Malays National Organization party.

"The habit of asking the police to frighten people should be stopped," Mahathir said in his most strident attack on Abdullah. "I consider this a police state." $@

JAKARTA

Militants in Bali blast to be freed from jail

Two Islamic militants jailed for the Bali bombings that killed 202 people will be freed Tuesday and 10 others will have their sentences reduced to mark the end of the Islamic fasting month, officials said.

Indonesia traditionally marks national holidays by cutting prison terms for inmates who exhibit good behavior - usually by several months - but the decision is likely to anger countries that lost citizens in the 2002 attacks on two crowded nightclubs, which killed 33 people.

Sirojul Munir, sentenced to five years for hiding one of the masterminds of the suicide bombings, will leave the jail in the East Kalimantan capital of Balikpapan on Tuesday, said Edi, a prison official who uses a single name. $@(AP)

KABUL

Clan violence in Herat leaves 32 fighters dead

Fighting between the followers of rival commanders of two Pashtun clans in the western province of Herat killed 32 fighters on Sunday and wounded numerous others, said an assistant to Ismail Khan, the former governor of Herat.

The clash took place in the Shindand district south of the city of Herat three days after a factional commander, Arbab Basir, and three of his men were killed in a clash with another Pashtun commander, Amanullah Kahn. $@(NYT, AP)

SYDNEY

Death of Phar Lap linked to poisoning

The 74-year-old mystery of the death of a legendary Australian racehorse, Phar Lap, has finally been solved using breakthrough technology, The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported Monday.

The paper said that new scientific tests had uncovered evidence that the horse was poisoned with arsenic just hours before he collapsed and died in California in 1932, adding credence to the theory that Phar Lap was killed on the orders of U.S. gangsters, who feared that the Melbourne Cup-winning champion would inflict big losses on their illegal bookmakers.$@(AFP)

TOKYO:Two candidates from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party won polls in Kanagawa and Osaka Prefectures on Sunday, retaining seats in the powerful lower house of Parliament left vacant by two ruling-party lawmakers who died earlier this year. The elections Sunday were closely watched as a test of Abe's political clout in the run-up to upper house elections next July. $@(AP)

BEIJING: Rabies has killed more people in China than either tuberculosis or AIDS in each of the last five months, state media reported Monday, prompting a crackdown in the capital to control unregistered dogs. Rabies killed 318 people in China in September alone, up 36.9 percent on a year earlier, The Shanghai Daily said, citing figures from the Health Ministry. $@(Reuters)

NEW DELHI: Cooling weather in northern India appears to have slowed the spread of dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease that has killed at least 125 people in the past two months, news reports said. Only 56 cases of the disease were reported in New Delhi hospitals over the past 24 hours, a drop from the average of 80 a day seen in the past week, Press Trust of India reported. $@(AP)

BEIJING: China intends to require its millions of Internet bloggers to emerge from the shadows and register under their real names in a move that is raising privacy concerns, Xinghua press agency reported Monday. Under the system, bloggers would be allowed to continue using their online pseudonyms, but must register with authorities under their real names. 

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