Police raided a squatter settlement in a Malaysian jungle,

Police raided a squatter settlement in a Malaysian jungle, burning down shacks and arresting more than 100 illegal immigrants, mainly from Indonesia's war-torn Aceh province, a human rights group said on Wednesday. Some of those detained in Tuesday's crackdown on the southern outskirts of Kuala Lumpur are believed to have documents issued by the UN's refugee agency identifying them as asylum seekers, the Malaysian chapter of Amnesty International said. "With the government's rush to deport illegal immigrants, (it) has lost sight of the fact that they are first and foremost human beings entitled to certain rights," the group said in a statement. -- AP

Australia appoints counter-terror chief

Australia's special forces commander will become Prime Minister John Howard's counter-terror chief as the re-elected conservative government strengthens its fight against terrorism, Howard's office said on Wednesday. Maj. Gen. Duncan Lewis would leave the Army next month to take up his new post, the spokesman said. Howard has begun work on his fourth-term agenda after crushing the center-left Labor opposition in Saturday's election. "He will join us late next month to head up the national security division of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet," the spokesman said. -- Reuters