MELBOURNE (AFP) –
Police cordoned off the famed MCG stadium and the Australian Open tennis arena in central Melbourne Monday as they searched for a gunman who escaped police during a high-speed chase.

Police wearing body armour were seen at the sporting precinct around the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and Rod Laver Arena, and closed it to traffic and pedestrians for more than an hour as they hunted for the man.

The search followed a high-speed freeway chase, during which two police cars were rammed by another vehicle, leaving one officer with back injuries.

Police later reopened the area, warning the public not to approach the man who is believed to be carrying a shotgun and to have fled the area on foot.

“The belief is still that he is armed,” a police spokesman told AFP, adding it was still unclear whether any shots had been fired.

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WELLINGTON (AFP) –
Political stalemate in the impoverished Pacific nation of Nauru persisted Monday after the second inconclusive election in two months.

President Marcus Stephen called Saturday’s election for the 18-seat parliament after two months of gridlock in which neither Stephen’s governing group nor the opposition were able to form a government after an April 24 vote.

In Saturday’s election, the opposition grouping lost one of its nine seats but it was not immediately clear which side the new legislator would support, a government statement said late Sunday.

The new parliament is due to meet on Tuesday to try to elect a new speaker and president for the nation of about 14,000 people.

Stephen said the latest election showed a swing in favour of his grouping.

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SANTIAGO, Chile – A local church investigation of pedophelia complaints against a prominent Chilean priest has been delivered to the Vatican for further action.

Through an attorney, Fernando Karadima has broken a two-month silence to deny accusations by several men who say he sexually abused them as teenagers.

Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz of Santiago says the investigation is now in the Vatican’s hands. Errazuriz last year renewed a probe of Karadima’s behavior after suspending an earlier investigation in 2005.

The allegations in Chile added to a growing church abuse scandal in Latin America, where the large majority of more than 500 million people are Roman Catholics.

Karadima’s lawyer, Juan Pablo Bulnes, spoke Saturday.

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PEBBLE BEACH, California (AFP) –
Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell won the US Open, holding steady as Pebble Beach buffeted a bevy of golf’s big names to claim his first major championship.

McDowell on Sunday became the first European since England’s Tony Jacklin in 1970 to lift the trophy – and he beat another European – unheralded Frenchman Gregory Havret – by one shot.

McDowell carded a three-over par 74 to claim the title with an even par total of 284. Havret posted a one-over 72 for 285.

South Africa’s Ernie Els finished third with a 73 for 286. Woods and Masters champion Phil Mickelson shared fourth place on 287.

“To play steady and to withstand some tough holes the way Graeme did and to come out on top, he played some great golf,” said Mickelson, who missed out on a chance to seize the world number one ranking from Woods and remained in search of a US Open title after five runner-up finishes.

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SHANGHAI – Asian stock markets rose early Monday after China ended its two-year peg to the dollar over the weekend, though there was no immediate change in the yuan‘s exchange rate.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index gained 146.33 points, or 1.5 percent, to 10,141.35.

South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.5 percent to 1,737.12, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 1.4 percent at 4,616.20.

China’s main share benchmark, the Shanghai Composite Index, added 0.8 percent to 2,534.08, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index climbed 2.1 percent to 20,702.33.

The Hang Seng was led by heavyweights such as China Life Insurance, which advanced 2.7 percent and Bank of China, up 2.3 percent.

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