■ Afghanistan
American trio convicted
Three Americans have been sentenced to up to 10 years in jail after being found guilty by an Afghan court on charges including torture, running a private prison and illegal detention. Former US Green Beret Jonathan Idema was arrested in July along with another ex-serviceman, Brent Bennett, and docu-mentary film-maker Edward Caraballo. The trio denied the charges and insisted they had US and Afghan govern-ment sanction to help track down al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists. "I apologize
that we tried to save these people," Idema said after the verdict. "We should have let the Taliban murder every one of them," he said. Idema and Bennett were sentenced to 10 years in jail and Caraballo to eight. Four Afghan co-defendants received sentences ranging from one to five years.
■ Japan
Volcano belches again
Mount Asama spewed gray smoke into the air repeatedly yesterday as it erupted for the second straight day. Mount Asama belched columns of smoke over 300m high in two small eruptions hours apart early yesterday, the Meteorological Agency said. The mountain then rumbled three additional times before noon, sending gray smoke as high as about 1,500m from the crater, the agency said. The agency warned residents to stay out of a 4km radius sur-rounding Asama's crater, adding it expected ongoing small-to-medium sized eruptions at the volcano. Mount Asama's last major eruption was in 1783.
■ Vietnam
Disseminator jailed
A Dutch national of Tai-wanese origin has been jailed for three years for making and trading porno-graphic videos, a court official said yesterday. Lam Yiu-fai, 45, was sentenced on Tuesday by Ho Chi Minh City's People's Court for "disseminating depraved culture." Lam arrived in Vietnam in 2002 and opened a restaurant in Ho Chi Minh. After importing illegal porn movies, he started taking pictures and films of his orgies with Vietnamese women after offering them aphrodisiac beverages, the court official said. Police seized a total of 170 porn pictures in his computer. In August last year Lam was caught with four women in his house in Ho Chi Minh City. The official said he admitted his "wrongdoings."
■ The Philippines
Ex-rebels gunned down
Two former Moslem Abu Sayyaf rebels who became police agents were killed by unidentified gunmen in the south, an official said yesterday. Abdulatia Ali Malabon, 24, and Abraham Mubin, 40, were shot dead by two unidentified armed men in Zamboanga City on Tuesday. The city's police chief said the pair were former rebels who had been recruited as civilian police agents. He said the suspects were seen talking with Malabon and Mubin outside a boarding house before they suddenly pulled out hand-guns and repeatedly shot at the two victims.
■ China
WWII wreckage recovered
China has recovered the wreckage of a World War II-era American cargo plane that crashed in Tibet about 60 years ago, the Xinhua news agency said yesterday. Debris and personal objects belonging to the crew were unearthed near a steep cliff in Danniang town, Mainling County, but no bodies were discovered, Xinhua said. The plane had been flying the 800km "Hump" cargo route that started in Assam, India and ended in Sichuan Province.
■ Iraq
Decapitated remains found
Three heads and decapitated bodies, thought to be of Iraqi civilians, were discovered on a roadside north of Baghdad Wednesday morning, the US military and Iraqi police said. The bodies were found "on a roadside west of Balad at 7:05am. At this point, we're assuming they're Iraqi civilians," said Master Sergeant Robert Powell, based in Tikrit. "The bodies were found decapitated. The remains were all found together." A reporter said the remains, which were brought back to Balad, were stuffed in bags and tattooed with inscriptions. Doctor Adel Ahmed of the town's hospital estimated the three had been dead for around five days.
■ Iran
Official killed in Iraq
The Iranian foreign ministry said yesterday that an employee of the Islamic republic's pilgrimage body has been "assassinated" near the central Iraqi city of Karbala, official media reported. "Iran strongly condemns the assassination of Labib Mohammadi, an official from the Baghdad Office of Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization," spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said overnight. He said the official "attained martyrdom at the hands of unknown terrorists in the vicinity of the Iraqi holy city of Karbala," without saying when the killing took place. "The Islamic Republic of Iran demands the Iraqi interim government work seriously to identify and punish those behind this criminal act," Asefi said.
■ West Bank
Five killed in fighting
At least five Palestinian fugitives, including a militant leader, were killed yesterday during a fierce gunbattle with Israeli soldiers in this West Bank city, Palestinian security officials and witnesses said. The army surrounded a building in Nablus where wanted militants were holed up, Palestinian witnesses said. A gun battle erupted, and security officials said at least five armed men were killed. A sixth man was injured. Palestinian security officials said five militants from the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades were killed, including Nader Aswad, a leader who was on Israel's most-wanted list.
■ France
Five militants arrested
The French domestic intelligence service arrested five suspected Muslim militants on Tuesday in Alsace. Officers said the arrests were made in connection with an inves-tigation against Moroccan Karim Mehdi, linked to the Hamburg al-Qaeda cell that carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. After his arrest on June 1 at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport, Mehdi told officers that he was traveling to the Indian Ocean island of La Reunion to prepare a terrorist attack against a tourist spot there. Officers have connected Mehdi with Ziad Jarrah, a member of the Hamburg cell who died in the 2001 suicide hijackings.
■ Russia
US criticism dismissed
Russia rejected yesterday US criticism of sweeping political changes proposed by President Vladimir Putin, saying this was strictly Moscow's business. "First of all, the processes that are under way in Russia are our internal affair," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, referring to comments by US Secretary of State Colin Powell. Lavrov, speaking in Kazakhstan on the sidelines of a meeting of ex-Soviet states, said Washington had no right to impose its own model of democracy on anyone else.
■ Canada
PM sorry for swearing
Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin apologized on Tuesday for blasphemy during a nationally televised meeting on health care reform -- but only after his aunt told him that his mouth should be washed out with soap. Martin, sitting at a table with the heads of the country's 10 provinces, could clearly be heard muttering "Jesus Christ!" after a presentation by Manitoba premier Gary Doer. An embarrassed prime minister opened the second session of the meeting by apologizing profusely, saying he had in fact been reacting to a note passed to him by a member of staff. "...one of my aunts called me and essentially pointed out that I had used inappropriate language and suggested a bar of soap," he said.
■ United States
Inmate refuses review
A prisoner accused of crafting terrorist propaganda and serving as Osama bin Laden's bodyguard refused to attend a US military review hearing Tuesday in what appeared to be the first case of a charged prisoner having his case reviewed by the panel. The 35-year-old allegedly produced a video commemorating the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole that killed 17 US sailors in Yemen, said Navy Commander Daryl Borgquist, a Pentagon spokesman.
■ Mexico
Anthem to be sung globally
Mexicans were to set aside their differences yesterday, declaring a break from political bickering and fears of crime to celebrate 150 years of their national anthem by launching a worldwide rendition. The international call to song at 12pm comes as the country kicks off its annual Independence Day celebrations, and tries to mend social and political divisions that have prompted even the president himself to call for unity. "Mexico's destiny depends today on unity, of the joining of wills to triumph in these battles and create a complete, just and inclusive country," Fox said Tuesday during a ceremony at the National Palace. Mexicans in general are culturally famous for their politeness.
■ United States
Bad tipper case dropped
Charges have been dropped against a man arrested in a restaurant for not leaving a big enough tip. After researching the case against Humberto Taveras, authorities said Monday that he cannot be forced to pay a gratuity. Taveras, 41, was charged Sept. 5 with misdemeanor theft of services after he and fellow diners argued with managers at Soprano's Italian and American Grill over a required 18 percent tip for large parties. Taveras had said he was not completely satisfied with the restaurant's food and left a tip of less than 10 percent.
■ United States
Baby thrown from car
A man threw a baby girl from his moving car while he was being pursued by police before dying when his vehicle hit a roadblock, Wisconsin police said on Tuesday. US authorities released dramatic videotape of the car chase on Tuesday that stunned viewers. The incident began as a domestic dispute between a couple in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, but escalated into an attempted kidnapping. A 23-year-old man took off in his girlfriend's car with her eight-month-old daughter, authorities said. During the pursuit, the suspect, Dana Bettin, rammed a state patrol car before slowing down to push the baby out of the car on a stretch of highway 41. The girl was strapped into a child seat and was unharmed, the Wisconsin State Patrol said.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
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