■ Indonesia
Tribesmen clash again
Hundreds of tribesmen armed with spears and bows and arrows clashed again yesterday in Indonesia's Papua province despite police efforts to make peace between the warring groups. Three people were injured in the latest incident, a hospital nurse said. Two people were killed and about 50 injured in battles on Saturday and Monday between the Nduga and Damal tribes. Renewed clashes erupted around noon yesterday. Heated debate had taken place in the Nduga camp, with many demanding that fighting continue until the number of deaths on each side is equal after a dispute about two months ago in which one Nduga tribesman was killed.
■ Thailand
Boy stabs Buddhist teacher
Police detained a 14-year-old boy for allegedly stabbing and critically injuring a Buddhist teacher yesterday in southern Thailand, but said the violence was not linked to the region's Muslim insurgency. "The boy said he attacked the teacher out of anger," police Major-General Jetanakorn Natheethapat said. He said police seized a blood-stained shirt and a chipped knife from the suspect. The missing portion of the knife was lodged in the body of the victim, Somchai Naewbanthad, 37. Jetanakorn said the 14-year-old boy allegedly spent the night with the teacher before stabbing him in front of his apartment. Jetanakorn declined to elaborate.
■ Australia
Your brain'll be right, mate
A doctor in outback Australia performed life-saving brain surgery on an 11-year-old boy while receiving step-by-step instructions over a mobile phone, news reports said yesterday. Jeff Taylor, the local doctor in the South Australian town of Naracoorte, 300km south east of Adelaide, was talked through an operation that involved drilling into the boy's skull by the chief neurosurgeon at the Adelaide Women's and Children's Hospital. Taylor said the surgical drill he used hadn't been used for 15 years. A trail-bike accident left the boy with brain swelling that a neuro-surgeon would normally deal with. The boy is recovering in Adelaide's Women's and Children's Hospital.
■ India
Bus plunges into river
A bus carrying wedding guests veered out of control and crashed into a rain-swollen river in eastern India, hours after a boat toppled into the same waterway, and some 65 people were feared killed in the two accidents, police said yesterday. The private bus was traveling late Monday in Bihar state when the driver lost control and it plunged into the Bagmati River near the village of Runisaitpur, some 90km north of Patna, said District Magistrate Arun Prasad. Twenty-five people were believed killed in the bus accident, which took place not far from where a boat capsized in the river, apparently killing 40 people.
■ The Philippines
Army kills Muslim rebel
Philippine troops killed a Muslim Abu Sayyaf rebel and captured another one in a clash in a southern town, a military report said yesterday. The firefight erupted Monday when a number of Abu Sayyaf rebels attacked government soldiers in Panglima Sugala town in Tawi-Tawi province, 1,120km south of Manila. "The soldiers were tracking down a band of Abu Sayyaf rebels who were believed to be holding captive two Malaysian sailors and an Indonesian tugboat skipper," the report said. The three foreigners were seized on April 11 aboard a cargo ship near the Malaysian border.
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