In Brief

Judge shot with crossbow SEOUL – A former South Korean professor shot a judge in the stomach with a crossbow in an apparent protest against one of his rulings, police investigators said yesterday.

Kim Myong-Ho, a former mathematics professor at a Seoul university, faces charges of attempted murder for the attack outside the judge’s home late on Monday, police said. “Police plan to seek an arrest warrant for the attacker on charges of attempted murder,” Kim Yong-Sik, a detective handling the case at the Songpa police in southern Seoul, told AFP.The shooting was apparent payback after Seoul High Court judge Park Hong-Woo upheld on Friday a ruling denying Kim reinstatement to his job.Kim, sacked from his job in 1995, was waiting outside the judge’s home with a crossbow, bolts, knife and a rope, the detective alleged.The judge is in hospital in a stable condition * Saudi backs US plan to stabilise Iraq RIYADH – Saudi Arabia said yesterday that Arab countries were ready to back a US plan to stabilise Iraq but insisted that only Iraqis can make it succeed.”We agree fully with the goals set by the new strategy, which in our view are the goals that – if implemented – would solve the problems that face Iraq,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said at a joint news conference with visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Riyadh.”(But) implementation also requires a (positive) response by the Iraqis themselves to these goals…Other countries can help but the main responsibility in taking decisions rests on the Iraqis,” he added.Rice, in Saudi Arabia as part of regional tour to drum up support for US President George W Bush’s decision to send more than 20 000 new troops to stabilise Iraq, also said it was up to Iraqis to make the plan a success.Nampa-AFP-Reuters”Police plan to seek an arrest warrant for the attacker on charges of attempted murder,” Kim Yong-Sik, a detective handling the case at the Songpa police in southern Seoul, told AFP.The shooting was apparent payback after Seoul High Court judge Park Hong-Woo upheld on Friday a ruling denying Kim reinstatement to his job.Kim, sacked from his job in 1995, was waiting outside the judge’s home with a crossbow, bolts, knife and a rope, the detective alleged.The judge is in hospital in a stable condition * Saudi backs US plan to stabilise Iraq RIYADH – Saudi Arabia said yesterday that Arab countries were ready to back a US plan to stabilise Iraq but insisted that only Iraqis can make it succeed.”We agree fully with the goals set by the new strategy, which in our view are the goals that – if implemented – would solve the problems that face Iraq,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said at a joint news conference with visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Riyadh.”(But) implementation also requires a (positive) response by the Iraqis themselves to these goals…Other countries can help but the main responsibility in taking decisions rests on the Iraqis,” he added.Rice, in Saudi Arabia as part of regional tour to drum up support for US President George W Bush’s decision to send more than 20 000 new troops to stabilise Iraq, also said it was up to Iraqis to make the plan a success.Nampa-AFP-Reuters