News in Brief

Malaysia smog at 16-year high
Afp, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia's government yesterday declared a state of emergency in two southern districts choked by smog from forest fires in Indonesia as air pollution levels reached 16-year-highs.
Environment minister G. Palanivel said the air pollutant index (API) hit 750 in the town of Muar -- a 16-year high for Malaysia -- yesterday morning, with two other towns also reaching hazardous levels.

More sites join World Heritage list
Afp, Phnom Penh

A dozen Renaissance villas built by Italy's powerful Medici family and monuments from North Korea's medieval city of Kaesong were granted World Heritage status by UNESCO yesterday.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization committee session also listed twelve monuments -- including tombs, fortress walls and a 700-year-old school -- at Kaesong as World Heritage sites.

China astronauts manually dock spacecraft
Afp, Beijing

Three Chinese astronauts on the country's longest manned space mission yesterday succeeded in manually docking their spacecraft with a module orbiting Earth, state media said.
Docking techniques are a crucial element of China's space programme, which aims to build a station orbiting the planet by 2020. The astronauts will spend 15 days in orbit as part of a multi-billion-dollar space programme seen by Beijing as a symbol of its growing global stature and technical expertise.

Aussie soldier killed in Afghanistan
Afp, Sydney

A decorated Australian special forces commando has been killed in action in southern Afghanistan, becoming the nation's 40th casualty in the protracted conflict.
Chief of Defence David Hurley yesterday said the soldier died from small arms fire during an operation to disrupt an insurgent network. Another special forces soldier was shot and seriously wounded and an airman injured in Saturday's incident.