<B>CANBERRA. Australia bushfires level homes, force evacuations.</B> Bushfires destroyed homes and forced evacuation of a major Australian mountain resort yesterday as one state said it was facing one of the worst emergencies in its fire-ravaged history. Blazes in the southeastern Australian alps crossed state borders, forcing the evacuation of the village of Thredbo in New South Wales, a winter ski resort 150 km (93 miles) south of the nation’s capital, Canberra. As temperatures soared to near 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), authorities in the southern state of Victoria continued to fight blazes which destroyed eight homes overnight and threatened a dozen more communities. “It just sends shivers up your spine, because we all saw how bad yesterday was,” said Victorian Premier Steve Bracks. “I think it will go down as one of our worst bushfire episodes in Victoria ever, and that’s a big statement. It is going to go on and it is going to get worse.” Bushfires, most sparked by lightning, have blackened more than 1.1 million hectares (4,000 square miles) of Victoria since late November, while blazes have also struck four other states

<B>CHINA. Outcry grows over beating death of reporter.</B> Chinese police are investigating the death of a reporter beaten up while probing the country’s deadly coal mines, media reported yesterday amid a growing outcry. Lan Chengzhang, who worked for the China Trade News, died of an apparent brain haemorrhage on January 10 after he was beaten while visiting a mine in Hunyuan county in the northern province of Shanxi, an editor with the paper told Reuters. Communist Party censors strictly control the Chinese press, but even state-controlled media have seized on Lan’s death, raising questions about local officials’ conduct, Lan’s motives, and the rights of the country’s beleaguered reporters.

<B>BAGRAM. Gates’ Afghan trip throws spotlight on Pakistan.</B> US Defense Secretary Robert Gates met US commanders at the main US base in Afghanistan yesterday on the second day of a visit that has thrown a spotlight on Taliban infiltration from Pakistan. Gates travelled to the sprawling Bagram air base from the capital, Kabul, where on Tuesday US military commanders told him militant attacks from Pakistan into Afghanistan had surged, several-fold in some areas. Violence in Afghanistan intensified last year to its bloodiest since US-led forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001. Fighting has eased since winter set in but US and NATO forces expect a renewed Taliban offensive in the spring.

<B>MANILA. Philippines says Abu Sayyaf leader killed in clash.</B> Troops say that theyhad killed the top planner of the country’s most deadly Islamic militant group in a clash at a rebel jungle camp in the southwest. Abu Sulaiman, one of the top five leaders of the Abu Sayyaf militant group and who is believed to have links with al Qaeda, was killed in a gunbattle on Tuesday on the island of Jolo, military chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon told reporters. Late last month, the military said Abu Sayyaf chief Khaddafy Janjalani might have been killed in September and sent tissue from a decomposing body found on Jolo for forensic tests. “The DNA tests results are not yet with us,” Esperon said. “We are told they should be coming in within the week. If both have been killed, it will be a significant success for the Philippines”. The Abu Sayyaf has only 400 or so members, most of them trapped on Jolo island, but it has been held responsible for a series of attacks, kidnapping and piracy in recent years.

<B>BANGKOK. Zoo gets big panda to slim down for sex.</B> A male panda at a Thai zoo has been placed on a month-long diet to avoid squashing his partner during sex, and will be shown “panda porn” to get him in the mood, the project chief said yesterday. Chuang Chuang, a six-year-old male who weighs in at 150 kg (330 lb), was too big for his 115-kg, five-year-old spouse, Lin Hui, Prasertsak Buntrakoonpoontawee told Reuters. “Chuang Chuang is not fat but he will be too heavy for Lin Hui when they mate,” he said. “The weight difference will be a hurdle to the success of their mating”. Prasertsak said male pandas should weigh 30 kg less than their partners. The pair have been at the zoo in the northern city of Chiang Mai since 2003 and were officially “married” two years ago. However, they have show little inclination to consummate their union. The zoo hopes Chuang Chuang will lose 10 kg in a month on the diet, which started last week and includes fewer “cookies” and bamboo stems, and more bamboo leaves, which are harder to chew. “It will take him more time to chew leaves than the stems,” Prasertsak said, adding that Chuang Chuang had already lost about 4 kg in one week. When Chuang Chuang hit the required weight, he would be able to enjoy videos of other pandas mating to get him in the mood. “The videos will be played for Chuang Chuang a few days before Lin Hui comes into a heat, probably in February, so that he will have some time to practise,” Prasertsak said. The panda pair are a major draw at the Chiang Mai Zoo, which makes paper souvenirs out of their dung. The animals, which were lent to Thailand by China, were “married” in November 2005 at a traditional Chinese wedding ceremony overseen by a Chinese diplomat to mark the zoo’s 28th birthday.

<B>KATHMANDU. Nepal’s Maoists set to start arms handover.</B> UN The United Nations began yesterday the delicate task of monitoring arms held by Nepal’s Maoists and registering their fighters, two days after the former rebels joined an interim parliament, a UN official said. UN.monitors and a task force of Nepali Gurkha soldiers, retired from the British and Indian armies, had arrived at a camp in Chitwan, 80 km (50 miles) south of Kathmandu, where the first Maoist guns were to be placed in a metal container, UN spokesman Kieran Dwyer told Reuters. In November, the government and Maoists signed a landmark peace pact declaring an end to a decade-old conflict against the monarchy in which more than 13,000 people died. Under the deal, 83 Maoist nominees have taken their seats in an interim legislature along with mainstream politicians. They are also due to join an interim government which will organise elections for a special assembly set up to map the country’s political future and decide the fate of the monarchy, which the Maoists want abolished. But before that, Maoist fighters – their leaders estimate their number at about 35,000 – are to be confined to 28 camps and their arms locked up in seven main areas under UN watch. The former rebels will keep the keys to the containers as part of the deal. The army must store a similar number of weapons. Analysts and human rights workers say the number of Maoist fighters may be far lower than claimed, and that thousands of people – many of them children – were recruited to boost their credibility as the peace process developed. The UN plans to send up to 186 monitors to help enforce the peace pact, and to deploy officials to help with the assembly elections, expected to be held in June.