■ Pakistan
Gunman opens fire
A gunman opened fire at security officials who were trying to enforce a ban on carrying arms in a tribal town in northwestern Pakistan yesterday, killing two officers and wounding two others. The officers were attacked in a bazaar in Miran Shah when they gave an order to a local tribesman who was carrying an AK-47 rifle, local government administrator Tariq Hayat said. Instead of complying, the unidentified man allegedly opened fire at the officers and fled.
■ Philippines
Congress in heated debate
Opposition lawmakers yesterday warned Congress that throwing out impeachment charges against President Gloria Arroyo could lead to unrest and worsen a month-long crisis sparked by allegations she rigged last year's elections. The 236-seat House of Representatives, which is overwhelmingly dominated by pro-Arroyo legislators, are preparing for a final debate before voting on whether to uphold a justice committee's decision to throw out all three impeachment complaints against Arroyo. She is accused of rigging last year's election, and of bribery, corruption and other crimes.
■ China
Fuel truck rams a plane
Beijing International Airport was lucky to avoid tragedy after a refuelling truck rammed a plane in one of two accidents at Chinese airports over the weekend. The fuel truck hit a Finnair jet bound for Helsinki after refuelling it on Saturday, becoming lodged under the plane's wing, the China Daily said. Frantic maintenance staff were forced to pump out eight tonnes of petrol from the plane and deflate the truck's tires to release it. All 287 passengers on board were evacuated and no injuries were reported.
■ Australia
Muslim party created
The country now has a Muslim political party and its leader says he hopes eventually to gain control of the Canberra parliament and impose sharia law. The Best Party of Allah in Australia (BPAA) applied for registration yesterday to be the voice of the country's 300,000 Muslims. "We want leaders who believe in Allah and will legislate accordingly for the laws that Allah prefers for our personal lives," BPAA founder Kurt Kennedy said. He said there could be no guarantee that extremists would not infiltrate the party but doubted they would want to join. "We totally reject people who would kill people indiscriminately, you know, as violence for its own sake and that's the story, that's the end of it," he said. Kennedy, a Vietnamese-born recent convert to Islam, said the new party had 100 members.
■ Singapore
Maids found guilty
Two Indonesian maids, who admitted to killing their Singaporean employer, were found guilty of culpable homicide yesterday, escaping execution on the reduced sentence after a court found that mental anguish pushed them to kill. Juminem, 20, and Siti Aminah, 17, were sentenced to life imprisonment and 10 years' jail respectively for killing Esther Ang Imm Suan, Juminem's employer, in March last year by suffocating her with a pillow and bludgeoning her with a wine bottle. Judge Choo Han Teck said, "It appeared that [Juminem's] mind, constantly disturbed by loneliness and despair, became fragile, and overly sensitive to the comments and physical contact [by her employer]."
■ Russia
Putin picks new navy chief
Russian President Vladimir Putin shuffled the Russian navy's command on Sunday, a move expected after the latest submarine accident last month in which seven sailors aboard a mini-submarine were saved with the help of other countries. Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, the chief of the Russian navy, was retired and replaced by Admiral Vladimir Masorin. Critics say the Russian fleet is plagued by severe financial difficulties and low morale. Kuroyedov was also in charge of the fleet in 2000, when the Kursk nuclear submarine sank, killing 118 crewmen. Russia refused offers of foreign help to rescue the Kursk and the navy command initially concealed the extent of the disaster.
■ France
Paris fire was set: police
Police said on Sunday that a fire that swept through a high-rise apartment block overnight, killing at least 15 people, was deliberately set. Three children were among those who died in the fire, in the Paris suburb of L'Hay-Les-Roses, the fourth deadly blaze in as many months in the city. The 18-story structure contains 110 subsidized apartments that were renovated this year. The building houses low-income French citizens as well as immigrants.
■ UAE
US sub slams into ship
A US navy submarine collided with a Turkish cargo ship in the Gulf in the dark hours yesterday morning. No one was hurt on either vessel. The USS Philadelphia was traveling on the surface of the Gulf when it slammed into the Turkish-flagged M/V Yaso Aysen at around 2am. The Philadelphia was conducting surface operations on its way to Bahrain for a scheduled port visit. There were no immediate reports of damage to the Turkish ship.
■ Italy
Gay donor turned away
Italy's health minister has condemned a decision by one of the country's biggest hospitals to stop a gay man giving blood. A 39-year-old writer was turned away from the Policlinico hospital in Milan after telling staff he was gay. Paolo Pedote said he had been informed that, although Italian law allowed him to give blood, it was "internal policy" not to accept gay male donors. The health minister, Francesco Storace of the formerly neo-fascist National Alliance, announced an inquiry, and said: "We intend to determine the administrative responsibility. But what has happened could also be grounds for a criminal investigation."
■ United Kingdom
Nazi death snacks revealed
Luckily, the exploding Smedley's English Red Plums in Heavy Syrup were intercepted in Turkey before anyone got killed. But what of the hand grenade disguised as a chocolate bar? Or the incendiary Vichy pastille sweets? A secret file from the UK's spy services released this week shows ingenious methods, conjured up by Germans during World War II, for disguising bombs. Among the files declassified by the National Archive this year was a treasure trove of exploding gadgets, labelled "Camouflages for sabotage equipment used by the German sabotage services." The drawing of the design for the chocolate bar grenade says it is made from steel coated with real chocolate, and activated by breaking off a bit at one end. It doesn't say whether the grenade was ever actually manufactured or used. The file also includes photos of bombs hidden in anything from oil cans and food tins to a lump of coal.
■ Missing Britons
Blair says sorry
British Prime Minister Tony Blair apologized yesterday to Britons caught in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but defended British diplomats on the ground. Some 150 Britons remain unaccounted for, a week after the hurricane struck the southern US, but Blair said he expected that number to go down. "I'm sorry if some people felt they didn't get the help they needed and we will look into that. We will do our level best to get to anybody still in there that we can get to, to get them out of there," Blair said in Beijing. He said it was "not sensible to speculate" on the number of British fatalities.
■ Rescue
Singaporeans lend a hand
Three Singapore Air Force Chinook helicopters based in Texas have airlifted hundreds of residents trapped in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Singapore's Straits Times reported yesterday. It said that as of nightfall on Saturday, the helicopters had airlifted about 700 people from the Superdome arena and a convention center. In dawn-to-dusk operations, the Singaporeans have also delivered to survivors tonnes of supplies, including food and water, the report said. The Singapore Defense Ministry said that the CH-47 Chinook helicopters were from a training detachment in Grand Prairie, Texas.
■ Celebrities
Penn's rescue bombs
Actor Sean Penn's personal crusade to save victims in hurricane-crippled New Orleans took on water on Sunday. The movie star and political activist was in the collapsing city to aid stranded victims of flooding sparked by Hurricane Katrina, but the small boat he was piloting sprang a leak. The outspoken actor had planned to rescue children waylaid by the deadly waters, but apparently forgot to plug a hole in the bottom of the vessel, which began taking water within seconds of its launch.
■ Celebrities
Grisham forks out
Best-selling writer John Grisham and his wife usually keep their charitable donations very private. But they've decided to disclose their US$5 million contribution to establish a relief fund to help Mississippians rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. "In these very, very rare circumstances -- this tragic time -- we hope the gift will get some attention and inspire other people to contribute money and help our fellow Mississippians on the Gulf Coast,'' said Grisham, who maintains a home in Oxford, Mississippi. Grisham, a former state legislator, said the fund will assist Mississippi residents and businesses. He said a staff will be hired to evaluate requests for help.
■ Cuban offer
Castro talks up aid
Cuban President Fidel Castro put on display some 1,500 doctors equipped with medical supplies on Sunday in hopes of persuading the US to allow them to treat victims of Hurricane Katrina. Castro, in a televised meeting with the doctors, said the US had not responded to his offer to send medical workers and 26 tonnes of supplies to the devastated Gulf Coast. He first made the offer public during a television presentation on Friday, saying political enmity should be put aside during such a crisis. The doctors, each with a green rucksack filled with emergency medicines, were brought to Havana over the weekend, Castro said, and were ready to leave at a moment's notice.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not