■ Sri LankaTroops enforce curfew
The government deployed the military to impose a curfew in a Sri Lankan town yesterday after a police shooting killed two people during a night of ethnic violence. Over 1,000 majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils clashed Wednesday over a road accident between a Sinhalese-owned bus and a Tamil-owned three-wheeler motorcycle taxi, police spokesman Rienzie Perera said. Police were "compelled to open fire to quell mobs who torched shops and houses and attacked our people," Perera said, adding that the shooting left two people dead. He declined to identify the dead men, saying it might fuel tension in the area. The violence broke out in the central Sri Lankan town of Nuwara Eliya, 180km east of the capital, Colombo. Nuwara Eliya is home to tens of thousands of Tamils, whose forebears were brought from neighboring India by the British.
■ China
Bad baby formula rampant
An ongoing investigation into the deaths of babies from consuming substandard milk powder has found the products are widely produced in China, state media said yesterday. Investigators discovered 141 factories in the provinces of Heilongjiang, Zhejiang, Shandong, Hebei, Hubei, Jiangxi and Inner Mongolia making the fake powder, Xinhua news agency reported. Even Beijing and Shanghai had factories churning out the deadly formula, it said. The products were sold in 149 brands. According to the government and media, 16 babies have died and 189 suffered from malnutrition after ingesting formula deficient in protein and other essential nutrients. State-controlled media have reported fake milk products or malnourished babies in 13 of China's 30 provinces or regions.
■ MacedoniaPremier wins poll
Liberal Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski won Wednesday's presidential election, but his conservative opponent has claimed fraud and demanded the ballot be annulled. With virtually all the ballots counted, Crvenkovski received 62 percent, the state electoral commission said. He replaces Boris Trajkovski, a highly respected politician who died in a February airplane crash. Right-wing opposition candidate Sasko Kedev had 37 percent. The commission said the turnout of 53 percent was enough to make the election valid. Crvenkovski celebrated his victory, saying the country ``passed a huge democratic test.'' But Kedev called the balloting the worst election fraud in his nation's history.
■ United Nationals
No WMDs for terrorists
The Security Council unanimously approved a resolution Wednesday to keep chemical, biological and nuclear weapons out of terrorists' hands. First proposed in a UN General Assembly speech by US President George W. Bush in September, the resolution extends the reach of non-proliferation treaty powers beyond states to "non-state actors" -- diplomatic-speak that includes terror groups. The 15 to 0 vote followed months of redrafting to gain support from several nations. China ended a threat to use its veto when language was dropped that would have allowed the interdiction of ships at sea suspected of carrying banned weapons.
■ United States
LA bans beach smoking
The city of Los Angeles is to ban smoking on its most popular beaches, joining its neighbor Santa Monica to create a 20km stretch of smoke-free waterfront, officials said Wednesday. The city council approved the measure and Mayor James Hahn is expected to sign the legislation. The ban's proponents say smoking on beaches poses health risks, such as second-hand smoke and poisoning from cigarette butts that leach toxins into sand and water. Environmental groups list cigarette butts as the most common litter on beaches. California has led the US in anti-smoking legislation, with many states and cities following its lead in banning smoking in public spaces, workplaces and restaurants.
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