WORLD IN BRIEF

Kazakh President Approves Elimination of Term Limits

---

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has approved constitutional amendments allowing him to stay in office for life, a move the opposition condemned. The United States welcomed the changes, which include additional responsibilities for an expanded parliament, as a "good step forward for democracy in Kazakhstan."

Parliament proposed last week to allow Nazarbayev, the president since 1991 whose current term expires in 2012, to stay in office for an unlimited number of terms in the oil-rich state. Nazarbayev signed the amendments Monday, and they achieved full validity with official publication Tuesday.

asia

---

· SHANGHAI -- The maker of a Chinese toothpaste found to contain a potentially deadly chemical said he was under investigation but called the product safe.

Chen Yaozu, general manager of Danyang Chengshi Household Chemical Co., said his firm had exported toothpaste to Panama containing diethylene glycol, a chemical blamed for the deaths of at least 51 people in Panama after it was mixed into cough syrup.

But Chen said the chemical, a thickening agent often used as a low-cost substitute for glycerin, was permitted under Chinese rules and was safe in small amounts.

· MANILA -- Southeast Asian nations appealed to Burma to free Aung San Suu Kyi, the democracy leader who has spent more than 11 of the last 17 years in detention. Calls for Suu Kyi's freedom have been growing as her latest term nears completion Sunday.

· MANADO, Indonesia -- Prosecutors have moved to overturn a ruling that cleared a local unit of Newmont Mining Corp. in a high-profile pollution case, officials said. On April 24, a court in Manado cleared PT Newmont Minahasa Raya and its American president, Richard Ness, of charges related to the dumping of toxic waste into a bay near a gold mine in North Sulawesi and making people sick.

the middle east

---

· TEHRAN -- Iran raised gasoline prices 25 percent in a new blow to consumers already disgruntled over high inflation. The government said it would begin rationing fuel in two weeks.

Iran produces 4.2 million barrels of crude oil a day but can refine only about 10.5 million gallons of gasoline a day. It imports gas to meet increasing demand.