■ Philippines
Arrests in bomb plot
Two men have been arrested for allegedly plotting to plant a bomb at the offices of the Philippines' Commission on Elections just days before the May 10 polls, the military said yesterday. Acting on "intelligence information," authorities apprehended the two unnamed suspects from a van parked on a dimly-lit portion of a street near the elections office late Satur-day. Confiscated from the two was an improvised explosive device using a 60mm mortar ammunition rigged to a cellphone as a detonating device, the military said. It was not clear which group the two belonged to.
■ Sri Lanka
Norwegians arrive
Norwegian mediators flew to a mountainous resort town yesterday for a key meeting with Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga to discuss ways to revive stalled peace talks between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels. The meeting between the president and Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen and peace mediator Eric Solheim is the first since her hardline government was elected to power last month. The Norwegians also had a 30-minute discussion with former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe -- who led the peace process the last two years, officials said.
■ Vietnam
Hunt on for boat passengers
Rescuers were searching yesterday for people missing since their boat sank off Vietnam's southernmost tip while on a holiday outing as the death toll rose to 38, police said. The boat, a fishing vessel illegally carrying passengers, developed a leak and began taking on water as it was heading to Hon Khoai island on Friday. State-run televi-sion said yesterday about 152 were on board the boat. At least 103 had been rescued, police said. Many
of the passengers were children, most aged between 12 and 15, on a school trip. Some frantic children used cellphones to call their parents for help as the boat went down, police said. A couple that owns the boat had been detained for questioning.
■ China
More miners die
Fifteen miners trapped in a flooded coal mine in the Inner Mongolian city of Wuhai are feared dead, while the death toll in another mine disaster rose by two to 36, state media said yester-day. Rescuers were trying
to reach the workers trapped since Friday morning in the Wuhai mine, the official Xinhua news agency said. Seventeen miners had been rescued, but "the rescue team said the chance of survival is thin" for the others, Xinhua said. Police had detained both the chairman and head of the mine, which had been closed by authorities last week because of concern over its ventilation but was secretly reopened by management. Two miners trapped after a blast in a mine in Shanxi Province on Friday were confirmed dead, bringing the death toll from that accident to 36, Xinhua said.
■ Thailand
New Jumbo Queen picked
A former model who once weighed a 52kg was crowned Jumbo Queen at an annual pageant on Saturday. At 170kg, Bangon Waiyawong beat second placed Sirirat Wongknongwa by 29kg. The 34-year-old Bangon got the audience rocking with her performance of a disco dance. She is the owner of a beauty shop and trains aspiring contestants to conventional beauty contests.
■ United States
Tot in pot pics
A man and woman were arrested after an employee at a photo lab saw pictures of a toddler posing with a pot pipe. John Gray, 20, and Elizabeth Lyvers, 24, were charged with first-degree unlawful transaction with a minor, a felony. Police also charged Gray with one count of marijuana possession and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia. The photographs appeared to show Lyvers' son, who is about 3, smoking marijuana from a water pipe, authorities said. Police said the couple maintain the water pipe did not contain marijuana. Police searched the couple's home yesterday after the Kroger photo lab in Bardstown turned over the film and provided police with an address.
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