AUSTRIA: Austrian far-right leader, Mr Jörg Haider, has moved into the slipstream of Mr Jean-Marie Le Pen's first-round French presidential election success by declaring his interest in becoming Austrian chancellor.
Two months after saying he would quit national politics, Mr Haider, who once called Adolf Hitler's employment policies "orderly", said he would seek Austria's top job in a vote due by late 2003 if his anti-immigration Freedom Party agreed. Mr Le Pen's success prompted comparisons with 1999, when Mr Haider's party leaped from opposition to government partner with Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel's conservatives. - (Reuters)
Tories to challenge far-right parties
LONDON - Britain's Conservative Party leader, Mr Iain Duncan Smith, yesterday promised he would tackle "head-on" extreme right-wing parties such as the British National Party (BNP) in next week's local council elections.
He said all that mainstream parties would achieve by shirking issues that groups like the BNP is campaigning on was the creation of a "political vacuum" for them to fill. - (PA)
Police swoop on illegal immigrants
HONG KONG - Police swept into a park in the heart of Hong Kong yesterday and dragged away illegal immigrants and dozens of supporters, the government's toughest move yet in a battle to deport thousands of people back to China.
The government's patience apparently snapped after an angry mob of immigrants besieged the car of security chief Ms Regina Ip on Wednesday, trapping her inside for an hour. - (Reuters)
Indonesia chief to visit East Timor
JAKARTA - Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri has decided to attend next month's independence celebration in East Timor, despite protests from some Indonesian politicians.
Chief Security Minister Mr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said yesterday that Mr Megawati would go to the May 20th festivities in order to forge stronger ties with the world's newest nation, which broke free after 24 years of often brutal Jakarta rule. - (Reuters)
Doctors accused of plot to kill patients
BANGKOK - A Thai criminal court yesterday began hearing the cases of three doctors and a hospital manager charged with conspiracy to murder patients for their kidneys. The three doctors, from Vachiraprakarn Hospital in southeast Bangkok, have been charged with the deliberate killing of two patients who were in comas but were not officially categorised as brain dead in 1997. - (Reuters)
EU official in enlargement pledge
BRUSSELS - The European Union's top enlargement official said yesterday he was confident about winding up accession talks with up to 10 countries by the end of 2002 despite several outstanding thorny problems. These problems include trying to settle the decades-old division of candidate Cyprus as well as Ireland's planned referendum on the Nice Treaty, which provides a legal basis for enlargement to proceed and must be ratified by all members. - (Reuters)
Robbers hanged
in Tehran
TEHRAN - Four convicted armed robbers were hanged in public in Iran's capital Tehran yesterday and another two in a prison, local media reported. The six were described as the leaders of a network "acting against national security" and "disturbing the peace". - (Reuters)
Dogs bannned after boy's death
BUCHAREST - Romania, which suffers one of Europe's worst plagues of stray dogs, banned certain fighting breeds yesterday after a pitbull terrier mauled a seven-year-old boy to death. - (Reuters)