It’s Rousseff vs Neves in Brazil’s Prez poll runoff
Rio de Janeiro, October 6
An unexpectedly competitive runoff campaign for Brazil's presidency kicked off on Monday with Leftist incumbent Dilma Rousseff and her pro-business rival Aecio Neves racing to win over supporters of an ousted third-place candidate and other voters frustrated with a stagnant economy.
Brazil’s Leftist President Dilma Rousseff (L) placed first in Sunday’s election but did not get enough votes to avoid a October 26 runoff and will face pro-business rival Aecio Neves. AFP

Cape Town, October 6
An Indian-origin British billionaire businessman, accused of being the mastermind behind the brutal murder of his Indo-Swedish wife while they were on honeymoon in South Africa in 2010, today pleaded not guilty to the crime and admitted he was bisexual.

Shrien Dewani's trial started in the Cape Town High Court today after he was brought here in April following a lengthy extradition battle that saw him being sent for psychiatric treatment in the UK and South Africa.

Dewani, 34, confessed in a statement read out on his behalf by his lawyer Francois Van Zyl to having had sexual interactions with both men and women physically and through email chats, including with male prostitute Leopold Leisser, who will testify about this for the state.

Leisser claimed that Dewani paid him for sex in the months leading up to the shooting, telling him he regretted his engagement with Anni but was too ashamed to back out due to family pressure, Independent newspaper reported.

"I consider myself to be bisexual," the court was told. "My sexual interactions with males were mostly physical experiences or email chats with people I met online or in clubs, including prostitutes," Dewani's witness statement said, adding he started treatment for this after he met his wife-to-be.

Dewani also pleaded not guilty to Anni's murder as well as charges of conspiracy to kidnap, robbery with aggravating circumstances and obstructing the administration of justice.

Dewani, dressed in a black suit, tie and white shirt, stood in the dock and looked down at prosecutor Adrian Mopp as Mopp read out the charges in a loud, clear voice.

Prosecutors argue that Dewani conspired with Cape Town residents Zola Tongo, Mziwamadoda Qwabe and Xolile Mngeni to kill his wife two weeks after their lavish wedding.

Taxi driver Tongo, Qwabe and Mngeni are already serving prison sentences in connection with the murder.

Driver Zola Tongo said in a plea bargain during his trial that Dewani had offered him R15,000 to have Anni killed.

Dewani claimed that he was thrown out of the vehicle, and that the last words he had spoken to Anni were in Gujarati, telling her to be quiet and to comply with the alleged hijackers' demands.

The difficult sexual relationship between the Dewanis is expected to come under the scanner in detail after Anni's cousin and confidante Sneha Hindocha made some disclosures on this in a statement to Scotland Yard earlier.

Dewani said he was instantly physically attracted to Anni when he met her in May 2009, but Hindocha said Anni had repeatedly told her in messages about Shrien spurning her advances.

Hindocha's statement paints her cousin as having been an unhappy and reluctant bride who called her a day after the wedding to assist her in getting a divorce.

During the hearing today, Shrien broke down and cried as he heard how Anni would have bled to death very quickly due to massive blood loss. — PTI

• Shrien Dewani is accused of being the mastermind behind the brutal murder of his Indo-Swedish wife while they were on honeymoon in South Africa in 2010
• Dewani is charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances, murder, kidnapping, and defeating the ends of justice
• His wife Anni died when she was shot in the neck as the couple travelled in a taxi on the outskirts of Cape Town
• Dewani claimed he and his wife were kidnapped at gunpoint. He was released unharmed, but his wife's body was found in the abandoned car the next day

Tokyo, October 6
Strong typhoon Phanfone slammed into Japan today, packing gusting winds and huge waves that swept three US military officials out to sea in another stark reminder of the country's vulnerability to nature.

Just over a week after a volcano killed dozens of hikers when it erupted without warning, winds of up to 180 km per hour whipped ashore, bringing heavy rain and travel chaos throughout a swathe of the archipelago.

The storm whirled over Tokyo at around 11 am (0200 GMT) and then headed northeast, dumping rain further up the coast of Honshu while its eye moved out over the Pacific Ocean.

Seven persons were left dead, including the three US military officials who had been photographing the storm, Japanese police and coast guards said.

Typhoon Phanfone grounded more than 600 flights, and caused the cancellation of dozens of bullet train services, leaving travellers stranded in stations.

The leading edge of the storm brought a nasty commute to Tokyo's morning rush hour, with hundreds of thousands of office workers caught up in the driving rain that lashed the streets.

Localised flooding was reported while television footage showed around 15 of the 20-metre (66-foot) high poles holding up the netting at a golf driving range had collapsed, crashing into houses in Chiba, east of Tokyo. — AFP

Rio de Janeiro, October 6
An unexpectedly competitive runoff campaign for Brazil's presidency kicked off on Monday with Leftist incumbent Dilma Rousseff and her pro-business rival Aecio Neves racing to win over supporters of an ousted third-place candidate and other voters frustrated with a stagnant economy.

Neves, a centrist senator who has pushed for greater trade and lower government spending but who had been widely written off until the last few days of the campaign, rode a late surge in support to a strong second place with 33.6 per cent support in Sunday's first round of voting.

He will face the leftist Rousseff, who won 41.6 per cent support, in the October 26 runoff that will decide what has been Brazil's most unpredictable election in decades.

Rousseff remains a slight favorite due to her enduring support among the poor, but Neves is within striking distance.

Brazil's main stock index soared as much as 8 per cent early on Monday, and the real currency gained as much as 3 per cent as investors were cheered by the strong showing from the candidate they preferred all along.

Both remaining candidates immediately shifted their focus to the 21 per cent of voters who backed the third-place finisher, environmentalist Marina Silva. Silva's campaign fell apart late in the race amid questions about her shifting views on major issues, but could still help swing the election with an endorsement. — Reuters

Hong Kong, October 6
Pro-democracy protests in Chinese-controlled Hong Kong subsided on Monday as students and civil servants returned to school and work after more than a week of demonstrations, but activists vowed to keep up their campaign of civil disobedience.

Protesters lifted a blockade of government offices in the heart of the city, which had been the focal point of their action which initially drew tens of thousands onto the streets.

The civil servants were allowed to pass through protesters' barricades unimpeded.

By late Monday afternoon, about a hundred protesters remained in an area that houses offices for international banks as well as the main stock exchange, although some students on campus remained defiant and promised to return after classes in the evening.

"I hope students can persist. If we retreat now we will lose the power to negotiate," said Chow Ching-lam, studying on the ground at the protest site near the offices of the city's Beijing-appointed leader Leung Chun-ying.

The protesters remain at a stalemate with Leung's government and there was no sign of movement on talks that were proposed to end the stand-off.

The protests have ebbed and flowed over the past week, with people leaving the streets overnight to return later. The test on Monday will be whether that pattern continues in the face of the government's determination to get Hong Kong back to work.

Fearing a crackdown after city leaders called for the streets to be cleared so businesses, schools and the civil service could resume on Monday, protesters who have paralysed parts of the former British colony with mass sit-ins pulled back from outside Leung's office.

The main road leading into the Central business district remained closed to traffic even though many protesters had left during the night. Heavy traffic was reported on other thoroughfares. Some banks that had closed branches during the unrest of the past week also threw open their doors for business on Monday. — Reuters