Algae cleared from Olympic venue

By Quentin Sommerville
BBC News, Qingdao

The Chinese government has successfully cleared tonnes of algae that was blocking the Olympic sailing course in the eastern city of Qingdao.

A special protection zone was set up using a boom and netting.

But in other areas the thick bright green algae is still polluting the beaches.

The Chinese government had set a goal of clearing the sailing area by Tuesday. The Olympic Games begin on 8 August.

Soldiers involved

The water at the Olympic sailing course in Qingdao is now largely algae free.

Some 10,000 troops from the People's Liberation Army have lifted over half a million tonnes of the thick heavy weed from the coastline.

A boom and netting is stopping more of the algae coming ashore.

Olympic sailing teams here say they can now train and will be able to compete in Qingdao's waters.

But at beaches not protected by the boom, the algae is still coming in.

China says it is a naturally occurring, though rare, phenomenon. Environmentalists blame pollution.

Protest kits for Aussie athletes

A campaign group in Australia is offering Olympics athletes and supporters a protest kit to highlight their concerns over Tibet.

The pack includes a T-shirt bearing the words "I support human rights" in English and Chinese, badges, stickers and temporary tattoos of Tibet's flag.

The T-shirt slogan was specially chosen to avoid making explicit reference to Tibet and contravening Olympic rules.

But backers admit that those using the kit may still "face consequences".

In March, Chinese authorities suppressed the biggest protests against Chinese rule in Tibet in two decades.

Many campaigners for Tibetan independence have used China's hosting of the Olympic Games as a platform to publicise their cause.

Risks

"Going right back to March, people have been approaching us and asking how they can help Tibet in Beijing," Simon Bradshaw, campaign co-ordinator for the Australia Tibet Council (ATC), told Reuters news agency.

But he warned that the packs could be confiscated by Chinese authorities at the airport, or could contravene Australian Olympic Committee rules and be barred from the Olympic village.

There is "no doubt that athletes who choose to make public statements over Tibet may face consequences", he said.

Launching the packs on Monday, former Olympic swimmer Michelle Engelsman said that whether athletes decided to speak out at the Games was up to them.

"It is important to bear in mind that the athletes also have the right to focus on their sport," she said.

But she said she hoped that athletes might choose to use the protest items - available on request and in confidence from the ATC - once they had finished competing.

A spokesman for the Australian Olympic Committee, Mike Tancred, told AP news agency that his organisation recommended that no athlete travelling to China take the kit in case the contents "antagonised" other competitors.

NZ teenage hacker charges dropped

A New Zealand teenager who admitted to taking part in an international cyber-crime network has been discharged without a conviction.

Police said the group hijacked more than one million computers and used them to take at least $20.4m (£10.3m) from private bank accounts.

Owen Thor Walker, 18, was ordered to pay $10,000 (£5,000) in damages and hand over his computer-related assets.

Police said they were interested in using his skills to fight cyber-crime.

Investigators called Mr Walker's programme one of the "most advanced" they had seen, prosecutors said.

He did not take money from people's accounts, but he was paid nearly $31,000 (£15,500) for software he designed that gave the cyber-ring access usernames, passwords and credit card details.

Judge Judith Potter dismissed the charges, relating to a 2006 attack on a computer system at a US university, saying a conviction could jeopardise a potentially bright career.

Bank details

Mr Walker was detained in the North Island city of Hamilton last November as part of an investigation with US and Dutch police into global networks of hijacked PCs, known as botnets.

A botnet can be controlled over the internet by a single computer.

It installs malicious software on PCs to collect information such as login names, bank account details and credit card numbers.

Mr Walker pleaded guilty to charges of accessing a computer for dishonest purposes, interfering with computer systems, possession of software for committing crime and accessing computer systems without authorisation, the New Zealand Press Association said.

New Zealand police said he had begun committing the crimes at school, and had designed an encrypted virus that was undetectable by anti-virus software.

Samsung ex-boss guilty of fraud

The ex-chairman of South Korean firm Samsung, Lee Kun-hee, has been found guilty of tax evasion in Seoul and given a three-year suspended jail term.

Lee, 66, was cleared of a more serious charge of breach of trust.

The court in Seoul also fined Lee 110bn won ($109m). Prosecutors had sought a seven-year jail term and 350bn won ($347m) in fines.

The charges followed a three-month investigation into alleged corruption at South Korea's biggest conglomerate.

Lee, one of South Korea's richest men, had headed Samsung for two decades before his resignation from the chairmanship in April.

'Sorry'

The suspension of his three-year sentence for five years means he does not face an immediate jail term.

Judge Min Byung-hun told Seoul Central District Court that Lee's crime was "not serious enough to send him to prison".

Speaking after the verdict, Lee said he was "sorry for causing trouble to the people".

The corruption case has been keenly followed in South Korea, where Samsung remains one of the country's most powerful and respected organisations despite the charges against Lee.

Samsung is best-known for its electronics unit, but it is also one of the world's largest shipbuilders.

With a global workforce of 254,000, it enjoyed annual profits of more than $12.9bn (£6.45bn) in 2006 and accounts for nearly a fifth of all South Korean exports.

Malaysia's Anwar Ibrahim arrested

Mr Anwar is a key figure in a resurgent Malaysian opposition

Profile: Anwar Ibrahim

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has been arrested in connection with allegations of sodomy, a crime in the Muslim country, made by an aide.

Mr Anwar is due to spend the night in custody in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, following his arrest by armed police near his home earlier, his lawyer said.

The arrest came shortly before Mr Anwar was due to give a statement to police over the allegations, which he denies.

The former deputy PM says they are aimed at ending his political comeback.

The move is likely to exacerbate the political tensions that have emerged since the opposition's unprecedented gains in the general election of March 2008.

Tian Chua, information chief for Mr Anwar's People's Justice Party (Parti Keadilan Rakyat), said his leader appeared to be in good spirits:

"He's quite cheerful. He's fresh, relaxed and hoping this will be over soon."

Armed police

Mr Anwar has been in a tense stand-off with police since a former male aide accused him of sodomy two weeks ago.

"The manner in which they surrounded our vehicle, it put a lot of fear and intimidation into us"
Sankara Nair
Lawyer for Anwar Ibrahim

Sodomy, even between consenting adults, is punishable by 20 years' imprisonment in Malaysia.

The 60-year-old opposition leader had been scheduled to report to police on Wednesday to be interviewed over the allegations.

But an hour before the meeting, armed police wearing balaclavas took him into custody outside the gates of his home, his lawyer said.

"The manner in which they surrounded our vehicle, it put a lot of fear and intimidation into us," Sankara Nair said.

Mr Nair added that he did not know how long his client would be held in custody. He quoted police as saying they needed to take further statements.

Deputy National Police chief Ismail Omar said Mr Anwar was being questioned at police headquarters.

"We have to record his statement to complete our investigations," he told the French news agency AFP. "Once the facts are in we can make a decision."

Police can detain the opposition leader for 24 hours, after which they must apply for a court order for further detention.

Political challenge

Mr Anwar's arrest will be seen as provocative by Malaysian opposition groups.

When he was arrested on similar charges 10 years ago, his supporters staged large demonstrations.

A BBC correspondent in Kuala Lumpur, Robin Brant, says it is almost certain that the same thing will happen again now.

The allegations come only weeks after Mr Anwar said he was in a position to launch a challenge to the ruling coalition, with the help of government defectors.

The opposition leader made his claim at a time when Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi is already under intense pressure to resign over poor election results and high fuel prices.

Mr Abdullah has said he will leave office in 2010, defying pressure to step down this December.