KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA'S prime minister promised on Tuesday to reform his ruling Malay party to stamp out deep-seated corruption and make it more acceptable to ethnic minorities in efforts to revive ailing support.
Najib Razak said the United Malays National Organization, which began its four-day annual congress Tuesday, would radically change the way it elects its leaders as it seeks to 'eradicate money politics' and restore its credibility. Party delegates are expected to approve the reforms on Thursday.
PADANG - INDONESIAN authorities declared as mass graves Tuesday seven villages destroyed by earthquake-triggered landslides, as they called off the search for over 200 people believed buried.
The decision to cancel the search in villages obliterated by landslides caused by the huge 7.6-magnitude quake that struck Sumatra island on Sept 30 had been made in consultation with the local community, said Padang Pariaman district police chief Uden Kusumawijaya.
BEIJING - RUSSIA and China bolstered their close but increasingly imbalanced relationship on Tuesday when Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ushered through deals worth US$3.5 billion (S$4.9 billion) and looked to sign a tentative gas supply agreement.
Mr Putin's talks in Beijing with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao were also likely to cover the international hotspots on which both governments share many views, especially North Korea's nuclear weapons programme and its latest missile tests.
BEIJING - CAR battery tycoon Wang Chuanfu topped a new list of China's 1,000 richest people released on Tuesday, which has 130 billionaires in an emphatic declaration of the Asian giant's economic arrival.
Most of the super-wealthy on the Hurun Rich List, unlike Mr Wang, made their fortunes in the property and stock markets - the focus of Beijing's massive government stimulus efforts over the past year.
