■North Korea
CIA rethinks nuclear threat
The CIA has revised an earlier intelligence estimate and now believes North Korea has begun reprocessing spent nuclear-fuel rods into plutonium for weapons, The Washington Times reported yesterday. Citing unnamed US officials, the newspaper said reprocessing the 8,000 stored nuclear fuel rods would be a key indicator that Pyongyang has abandoned past commitments to freeze its nuclear-arms program. A review of intelligence on the nuclear-rod reprocessing began in April after North Korea's representative to nuclear talks with the US and China in Beijing stated that the reprocessing was nearly finished, the report said.
■ Indonesia
US fighter jets spotted
Indonesia's air force sent fighter planes to intercept what it said were five US F-18 jets flying in the country's airspace over the Java sea, an air force spokesman said yesterday. Captain Lubis said air force radar detected the F-18 Hornet planes maneuvering over Bawean Island off the eastern coast of Java island on Thursday. Lubis, who goes by a single name, said several F-16 fighter planes were deployed to intercept the planes. He declined to provide more details, saying the air force would hold a media conference later yesterday.
■ Indonesia
`Tommy' appeals sentence
The youngest son of ex-dictator Suharto has appealed his 15-year jail sentence for ordering the assassination of a judge, a court spokesman said yesterday. Andi Samsam Nganro said lawyers of Hutomo Mandala Putra, known as "Tommy," filed the appeal to the Supreme Court Wednesday. Nganro said he did not know the grounds for the appeal, which by law must contain new evidence. Tommy's lawyers could not be reached for comment. Tommy was found guilty in July last year of ordering the shooting of Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, who had earlier convicted him of corruption in a multimillion dollar land deal.
■ China
Floods threaten city
Emergency crews raced the clock yesterday to fortify defenses against the coming high tide as the fall-out from a building collapse caused by the cave-in of a subway tunnel continued, state media said yesterday. The building, located in the Bund district, collapsed Tuesday morning while work was being done on a tunnel being built 20m underground for a new subway line crossing the city's Huangpu River. The subsidence led to a break in a nearby dyke when a temporary flood wall built by hundreds of soldiers to hold back waters from the Huangpu River tumbled at noon Thursday, the China Daily said. The river is being kept at bay by another sandbag wall 5m high and nearly 100m long.
■ Thailand
Urinating man electrocuted
A 27-year-old Thai man was electrocuted while urinating near a power utility pole during a monsoon downpour, news reports said yesterday. Witnesses said the victim, Pallop Thachao, got out of his car to relieve himself along a toll road in Bangkok's Prawet district on Wednesday night. Police said they believe Pallop was killed as a result of a shock from an exposed electric cable that was submerged by flooding during a heavy downpour. "There was also some water near the [electricity] poles," The Nation newspaper quoted Prawet police Captain Narongchai Sajjathai as saying. Police said Pallop had a prosthetic leg, which could have acted as a conductor for the electric shock.
■United Kingdom
Gardens new heritage site
Britain's Kew Gardens, home to one of the world's largest and smelliest flowers, has been named as the latest World Heritage Site, the government said on Friday. The sweeping grounds in the west of London are typified by a vast domed Palm House, built in 1844 to shelter its tropical inhabitants from Britain's fickle climate in the Victorian era when botany was deeply fashionable. Exotic butterflies and delicate corals inhabit its greenhouses, while temples, lakes, archways and pavilions dot its wooded grounds.
■ Rwanda
Date set for key vote
Rwanda has set August 25 as the date for its first presidential elections since a 1994 genocide killed 800,000 people. The central African country's government said parliamentary elections would be held a month later on September 29. The polls mark an end to the nine-year transition to democracy led by Tutsi President Paul Kagame's government of national unity, which was installed after the genocide. Political observers see a two-horse race for the presidency -- between Kagame and former prime minister Faustin Twagiramungu, a moderate Hutu.
■ Canada
Did BSE start in the US?
Canada's lone case of mad cow disease may have originated in the US, according to a report issued Thursday by Canadian investigators. In its final report on the case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, detected May 20 in Alberta, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency raised the possibility the disease arrived in Canada in a large shipment of pregnant US cows in 1998. The 25,000 animals were born before a ban imposed a year earlier on cattle feed containing animal protein from cows and other ruminants. DNA testing is underway to try to learn if the single infected animal in Alberta, known as the index case, had any links to the cows imported in 1998.
■ United States
Leung freed on bail
A woman accused of stealing classified information from her lover and FBI handler to pass on to China was freed from prison after posting US$2 million bail. Katrina Leung (陳文英) was released Thursday evening from the downtown Metropolitan Detention Center, said a prison employee who would only identify himself as Officer Foster. Leung's attorney, Janet Levine, confirmed that her client was released after posting bail. "She is pleased to be home with her family," Levine said.
■ France
Corsica votes on autonomy
After nearly 30 years of daily violence, Corsicans vote tomorrow in a referendum which nationalists see as a first step towards independence for the French Mediterranean island. The poll on wide-ranging constitutional changes -- including parity for women in a new 91-member regional assembly -- has split parties on both left and right, creating uncertainty about the result. French President Jacques Chirac is an instinctive opponent of autonomy, but after a long period of hesitation he has called for a `yes' vote, saying a Corsican parliament with more power is the best way to ensure that the island's 260,000 inhabitants stayed French.
Agencies
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