AUSTRALIA . . . ANTICRIME CRUSADER MURDERED

The first killing of a sitting Australian politician since 1921 -- presumably by Vietnamese gangsters -- prompted government leaders to warn against a backlash against the country's Asian communities. Last night, New South Wales state legislator John Newman, 47, was gunned down in front of his suburban Sydney home. Newman, who had received death threats while campaigning for years against Asian gang violence, recently asked police to lift surveillance on his home. Newman was shot twice in the chest and died on the steps of his house as his Chinese-born fiancee looked on.