KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian police are investigating a man for allegedly raping an Indonesian girl, 15, working for him, officials said, days after another maid accused three policemen of rape. The cases have reportedly caused outrage in Indonesia. Ties between the two neighbours have been tense over frequent reports of abuse in recent years. Malaysia's foreign ministry said the Indonesian in the latest case in Seremban, a town near the capital Kuala Lumpur, was raped as well as tied up and left without food for four days. AFP
TOKYO - Japan and North Korea have started talks in Mongolia that Tokyo hopes will shed light on a series of decades-old abductions. The talks in Ulan Bator are scheduled to continue through today. In August, lower-level negotiators from Japan and North Korea held the countries' first talks in four years but made little progress. Japan wants information on the abductions of Japanese citizens by North Korean agents in the 1970s and '80s. Japan believes at least one abductee may still be alive and in the North, although North Korea denies this. Five abductees were returned to Japan in 2002. AP