■ ChinaPeacekeepers to go to Haiti
China is sending 125 riot police on a UN peacekeeping mission to Haiti, the Caribbean nation which has full diplomatic ties with Beijing's rival Taiwan, state media reported yesterday. Xinhua news agency said this will be the first time China has ever sent riot police abroad to take part in a UN peacekeeping mission. The 125 policemen and women from forces in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chonqing will leave in two groups on Sept. 12 and 27, it said. Haiti is among 27 countries resisting pressure to abandon Taiwan and to forge ties with China.
■ China
19 die in flash flooding
At least 19 people died and 21 were missing after rainstorms brought flash floods and landslides to parts of southwestern China's Sichuan province, state media said yesterday. Mountain torrents, landslides, and mud and rock flows hit Sichuan during continuous rain since Thursday, Xinhua news agency said. Total rainfall reached 25cm in 24 hours in Sichuan's Quxian county on Friday and Saturday. In the whole province, at least 19 people died, 21 were reported missing and 40 were seriously injured, the officials said. Severe summer weather has caused floods and landslides that have killed more than 800 people in China this year..
■ bangladesh
Bomb near cinema kills 2
Two people were killed and 10 wounded in a bomb blast in northeastern Sylhet town yesterday, police said. The blast occurred outside a cinema hall. Police had no immediate clue who might be involved. Doctors at Sylhet Medical College Hospital said they admitted seven blast victims, with a few in critical condition. Sylhet has been the scene of several bombings since May in which at least seven people have been killed and over 250 wounded, including British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury. US terrorism expert J. Cofer Black arrived in Dhaka yesterday to help investigate a grenade attack at an opposition rally last month that killed 19 people and wounded 150.
■ Malaysia
Anwar arrives in Germany
Former Malaysian deputy leader Anwar Ibrahim arrived in Germany yesterday for back surgery, days after being released from six years in prison. A Malaysian Airlines flight brought Ibrahim and his family to Frankfurt, his aide Azmin Ali said. Anwar is scheduled to undergo endoscopic surgery today at a private clinic for an injury he suffered partly during a police beating six years ago. At Anwar's departure, several thousand supporters brought Malaysia's main airport terminal to a standstill in a potent reminder of the charismatic sway he holds over the country. The crowds overwhelmed Kuala Lumpur airport security as they surged toward Anwar's car when he arrived.
■ Indonesia
Mutiny claims 7 Thai sailors
Myanmarese crewmen threw seven Thai sailors into the sea during a mutiny aboard an Indonesian-operated fishing vessel, the navy said yesterday. Navy personnel who boarded the Chum Pol Naval-30 south of Ambon island in eastern Indonesia found seven Thai crewmen missing, said a navy spokesman. The 26 Myanmarese crew members were questioned by the navy and told them that they had thrown seven Thai sailors, including the captain, overboard. The ship and its crew were taken to the navy base in Ambon.
■ PakistanLethal home brew kills 31
A toxic batch of home-brewed alcohol has killed 31 people in several towns in central Pakistan, police and hospital officials said yesterday. Most of the deaths occurred in the city of Multan where unconscious patients were admitted to hospital early Saturday, district police chief Hamid Mukhtar Gondal said. Doctor Imran Rafiq said yesterday all 17 people brought to one Multan hospital in the past 24 hours had died within hours. "It was an extremely poisonous alcohol, which affected their lungs and kidneys," he said. Alcohol is officially banned for Muslims in Pakistan but those determined to drink can purchase locally made spirits or black-market imports.
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