HARD BALL: Following a vote by the UN's nuclear watchdog to refer Iran to the UN Security Council, Tehran retaliated with a vow to start full-scale uranium enrichment
Iran plans to immediately carry out its threat to cut off cooperation with the world's atomic energy watchdog, an Iranian official said yesterday in the wake of a majority vote reporting the Islamic state to the UN Security Council.

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The US will build new long-range weapons in a hedge against potential rivals like China, the major power best-placed to challenge US supremacy, the Pentagon said in a new strategic blueprint on Friday.

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DESPERATE SEARCH: Egyptian police struggled to hold back hundreds of angry relatives who rushed to the port of Safaga to find out the fate of their loved ones
Rescue boats have picked up 435 survivors from the Egyptian ferry that caught fire and sank in the Red Sea, police said yesterday as their officers struggled to hold back hundreds of people trying to push their way into this port to get information about their loved ones among 1,400 passengers and crew.

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A stampede broke out early yesterday outside a stadium near Manila where thousands had lined up to watch a popular game show, killing at least 73 people and injuring 359 others, officials said.

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Taiwan's population density stood at 629 per square kilometer at the end of last year, still the world's second-highest among countries with a population of more than 10 million, according to a report yesterday by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.

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By Charles Snyder
With tension increasing between the US and Taiwan this week, aides to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and US State Department officials in Washington are close to hammering out a compromise on Chen's Lunar New Year proposal to abolish the National Unification Council.

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