■ United States
Hacker war wreaks havoc
Parts of the Internet erupted Sunday in a battle among hackers, as factions disrupted a loosely coordinated ``contest'' among other groups trying to vandalize thousands of Web sites around the world. Unknown attackers for hours knocked offline an independent security Web site, zone-h.org, that was verifying reports of online vandalism and being used by hackers to tally points for the competition. Some experts said it could be later this week before damage from this weekend's hacking would be known. By late Sunday afternoon, hackers claimed responsibility for vandalizing hundreds of mostly obscure Web sites.
■ Mexico
Divided congress elected
Voters issued a severe judgment on President Vicente Fox's first three years in office, electing another divided congress in which his party will have fewer seats and increasing the power of the former ruling party and the leftist opposition. No party gained a majority in Sunday's midterm congressional elections. Voters, frustrated with Fox's inability to deliver on promises of reform, economic growth and a migration accord with the US, set the stage for three more years of inaction. Preliminary vote counts showed the Institutional Revolutionary Party, the old ruling party that Fox ousted in 2000 elections, leading in congress.
■ United States
Firefighters kept busy
Firefighters battled a wildfire Sunday in a drought-stricken pine forest just a few kilometers outside a central Arizona city, while crews in the southern part of the state kept a mountaintop fire away from homes and cabins. The central Arizona fire started late Saturday about 13km south of Prescott near Walker, a community of cabins and houses in the Prescott National Forest. Several hundred homes are in the area, but none had burned as of midday Sunday. Residents of about 100 cabins and houses in Walker were advised to evacuate.
■ Guinea
Mystery plane spotted
A Boeing 727 cargo plane which caused panic among US intelligence agencies after mysteriously disappearing from Angola's main airport turned up last week in Guinea. The plane, which was feared to be in the hands of international terrorists, was spotted on June 28 in Conakry, Guinea's capital, by Bob Strother, a Canadian pilot. It had been resprayed and given the Guinean registration 3XGOM. But at least the last two letters of its former tail-number were still showing. "There's no absolutely doubt it's the same aircraft," said Strother.
Agencies
RSS