Aussie wildlife visits Pope

Sydney, July 16: Pope Benedict XVI received a visit from a koala and other native Australian animals today when zookeepers took a selection of fauna to the pontiff’s Sydney retreat, a spokesman said.

The animals included a koala, a red-necked wallaby baby or "joey," a python, a baby crocodile, a lizard and an echidna, a spiny insect-eating mammal that lays eggs.

The animals, from Sydney’s Taronga Zoo, were taken to visit the pontiff at the Kenthurst Study Centre on the outskirts of Sydney, where he has been preparing for this week’s World Youth Day celebrations.

The Pope patted each of the animals on the head, festival spokesman Faher Mark Poesta.

We wanted to offer the Holy Father an opportunity to experience some of Australia’s unique fauna and were delighted when our partners at Taronga Zoo offered to help," Mr Podesta said.

"The Holy Father expressed that he wanted to meet some of our native animals, so we were more than happy to offer him this experience," he added.

—AFP

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Anwar arrested in sodomy case

BY JALIL HAMID

Kuala Lumpur

July 16: Malaysian Opposition figure Anwar Ibrahim has been arrested for sodomy, his lawyer said on Wednesday, setting the stage for a political showdown that could further rattle the country’s financial markets.

The former deputy Premier had agreed to meet the police on Wednesday on a sodomy complaint lodged by a former aide, and the police had warned they would arrest him if he did not show up for questioning. Mr Ibrahim’s lawyers had said he would go to the police for questioning, but the arrest came about an hour before that.

"They say he was arrested under Section 377 of the Penal Code (sodomy)," Sankara Nair, Mr Ibrahim’s lawyer, said. "He was arrested as a suspect in the case."

—Reuters