■ Afghanistan
Clerics threaten `jihad'
A group of Muslim clerics threatened yesterday to call for a holy war against the US if fails to hand over in three days military interrogators reported to have desecrated the Koran. The warning came after 16 Afghans were killed and more than 100 hurt last week in the worst anti-US protests across the country since US forces invaded in 2001 to oust the Taliban for sheltering Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network. The clerics in the province of Badakhshan said they wanted US President George W. Bush to handle the matter honestly "and hand the culprits over to an Islamic country for punishment." "If that does not happen within three days, we will launch a jihad against America," said a statement issued by about 300 clerics, after meeting in a mosque in Faizabad.
■ Iraq
Militants post ambush video
A militant group that claims to have kidnapped a Japanese man in Iraq has released a new video apparently showing the ambush that led to his capture. The Ansar al-Sunnah Army said on its Web site last week that it ambushed a group of five foreign workers, killing four and kidnapping the fifth -- Japanese citizen Akihito Saito, 44. Yesterday, the group's Web site had a new video purportedly showing the attack, but Saito's image could not be confirmed, and the gruesome six-minute footage did not contain any indication of Saito's fate. The group said in the video that they killed the four as representatives of Christianity.
■ China
Old village discovered
Archeologists have discovered an entire village destroyed in an earthquake nearly 700 years ago. The hitherto unknown village in northern Hebei province appears to have been a booming commercial center during the Song Dynasty (960 to 1279 AD). This village appears to have fallen victim to a major earthquake. Other explanations include four successive floods hitting the area around the time when the village met its abrupt end. The site was uncovered by acciden during excavation work for a nearby highway.
■ Nepal
Aid efforts suspended
Four foreign aid organizations have suspended operations in western Nepal after local staff members were beaten by rebels. The World Food Program, Britain's Department for International Development, German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and Dutch aid agency SNV said in a statement the workers were attacked at Sukatiya village. Rebels forced a woman at the project to dig her own grave, it said, without providing details. "We regret this deeply, but cannot put our staff at further risk," they said. "It is clear that this action seriously contravenes the BOGs [basic operating guidelines] which are the basis for these donors' engagements in Nepal." The suspension will hit 6,000 villagers who work on the project in Nepal, one of the world's 10 poorest countries.
■ Russia
China asks for punishment
China has urged Russia to punish "troublemakers" after a clash in the Siberian city of Irkutsk where police reportedly injured 20 migrant Chinese workers. The riot took place Wednesday evening as an ID check conducted by a Russian police patrol got out of hand, and more than 200 Chinese got into a fight with law enforcers. Thousands of migrant Chinese workers have poured across the borders with eastern Russia in recent years, frequently fueling tensions.
■ France
Cook killed in sword attack
A cook at a Paris children's hospital was killed in a sword attack on Saturday evening, Paris police authorities said yesterday. The fatal attack took place at around 5pm inside the hospital after a disagreement between the victim and the attacker, who were known to each other, police said. "The cook suffered one or more sword blows, particularly in the area of the carotid [artery], which caused a quick death," a police spokesman said. He did not reveal the victim's identity. The male attacker then gave himself up to police. It is not yet known if the attacker also works at the hospital.
■ Russia
Troops target Caucasus
Russian troops on Saturday began an operation against suspected Wahhabi Muslims in the restive southern Caucasus regions, the Interior Ministry said. The operation took place at an apartment building in the city of Cherkessk, a city in Russia's southern Caucasus regions where police and paramilitary troops have moved forcefully against suspected extremists in several cities over the past year, the ministry said. In March, security forces stormed an apartment building in Nalchik, about 150km from Cherkessk, killing three suspected Islamic militants who had barricaded themselves inside.
■ Croatia
Local polls test ruling party
Croat voters were choosing local governments yesterday in an election that will test the popularity of the conservative governing party and its pro-EU policy. Political parties largely campaigned on local issues, promising to improve infrastructure and build more schools and roads. But analysts agree that central government policies will play a significant role in the vote. Prime Minister Ivo Sanader's ruling Croatian Democratic Union has recently abandoned its past nationalism and is now dedicated to ensuring this ex-Yugoslav country becomes an EU member soon -- a task that includes hunting for a fugitive general wanted by the UN war crimes court but hailed by many here as a war hero.
■ United States
Officials warn on UN reform
US officials have warned Japan, India, Gemany and Brazil that they will not support their bids to join the UN Security Council unless they agree not to ask for veto power, the New York Times reported yesterday, citing senior diplomats and administration officials. The current five permanent Security Council members -- the US, Britain, France, China and Russia -- each have veto power in council decisions. Officials in the administration of President George W. Bush fear that giving the new members veto power might paralyze the Security Council, the Times reported.
■ Spain
Bomb blasts target factories
Four small bombs exploded yesterday at industrial sites in the Basque region, officials said. A news report said the separatist group ETA may have been behind the attacks. Two policemen and a security guard were slightly injured after inhaling toxic fumes at a chemical plant where one of the blasts occurred, the Interior Ministry said. The bombs exploded in four towns in Guipuzcoa Province, the Spanish Interior Ministry office there said, and were detonated in the space of about 90 minutes starting at 3am.
■ Brazil
Murder game turns real
A 21-year-old man and his parents were killed after the man agreed to be murdered along with his family if he lost a murder-mystery role-playing game, local media reported Saturday. Two men, 21-year-old Mayderson de Vargas Mendes and 22-year-old Ronald Ribeiro Rodrigues, were arrested Friday after confessing to the killings, police said. Thiago Andrade Guedes apparently died after agreeing that whoever lost the game would be killed with his family -- just as it happened in the game, police investigator Alexandre Lucente Capella told the Folha de Paulo daily. Authorities said all three men -- who had known each other for about two years -- were playing characters that might be murdered depending on the outcome of the game.
■ United States
Irate Japanese man arrested
A vacationing Japanese businessman has been charged with disrupting an international flight by yelling, spilling water on passengers and bumping a flight attendant after finding a hair on his blanket. Kaichiro Tsunemi, 58, appeared briefly in US District Court in Detroit on Friday on a charge of interfering with a Northwest Airlines flight crew on May 6. Authorities said he went ballistic during the flight that day from Osaka, Japan, to Detroit after finding the hair, and started yelling, swearing and pouring water on the seats and floors.
■ Brazil
Company fined for slavery
A court has imposed the country's largest fine for "slavery," according to media reports Saturday. The agricultural company Lima Araujo Agropecuaria Ltd was ordered to pay 3 million reals (US$1.2 million) in compensation in Maraba in the northern rainforest state of Para. The company held 180 workers in slave-like conditions on two plantations in the south of Para. Three labor ministry raids by federal police set the workers free between 1998 and 2002. The company said it would appeal the decision. The previous largest fine for slavery was imposed a few weeks before on a large plantation which had to pay 1.3 million reals. Before that, Senator Joao Ribeiro had to pay a 760,000-real fine in February.
■ Colombia
Official denies role in killing
A former politician accused of a role in the 1989 assassination of leading presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan told the attorney general's office he is "totally innocent" in declarations made public Saturday. Alberto Santofimio Botero, a former justice minister and senator, was arrested Thursday in Colombia's coffee-growing region and accused in the killing of Galan, a popular, anti-corruption crusader. John Jairo Velasquez, a former hit-man for drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, said recently that he was present at a meeting with Escobar and Santofimio when the politician recommended Galan be killed, though it was not clear whether those statements are what led to Santofimio's arrest.
■ United States
Drug lowers cancer risk
Cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins also lower the risk of breast cancer by more than 50 percent, according to research made public at the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology conference. Statins, found in popular drugs such as Lipitor or Zocor, can also lower the risk of lung or prostate cancer by 48 percent and 54 percent respectively, according to separate recent studies.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the