■ Sri Lanka
Stewardess hoaxer fired
An airline stewardess called in a bomb threat because she wanted a day off, a newspaper reported yesterday. Investigators traced the call and found that it was made from a mobile phone belonging to the stewardess' boyfriend, Colombo's Sunday Times weekly reported. "The inquiry reveals that the stewardess had given the false alarm because she did not want to fly that day," it said. The stewardess was fired, it reported. Sri Lankan Airlines spokeswoman Ruvini Jayasinghe declined to deny the report and referred the call to senior officials. In recent months, two bomb threats forced aircraft to return to the ground in Sri Lanka.
■ India
Boat accident kills dozens
An overcrowded boat capsized in the Ganges River, leaving at least 22 people dead and about 60 missing, a government official said yesterday. The 50-seat boat was carrying about 100 people when it sank on Saturday night, said Anil Kumar, a government administrator in Balia district of Uttar Pradesh state, where the accident occurred. Some 20 people swam safely to shore, while the others were feared dead, Kumar said. Police divers had recovered 22 bodies and were searching for the others, he said. Some survivors were injured and were being treated at hospital, Kumar said. Boat accidents are common in Uttar Pradesh, an impoverished state with poor infrastructure.
■ Thailand
Monk slaughtered in temple
Suspected Muslim militants killed a Buddhist monk in the restive Muslim south, police said yesterday. The militants attacked a Buddhist temple in the southern Pattani province late on Saturday, slit the 76-year-old monk's throat, killed two teenage boys and set fire to the temple, according to a police report. The charred bodies of the two teenagers were found in the temple, said the report which did not give details. On Saturday, militants also killed a Buddhist villager in Pattani, a Muslim village defense volunteer in the nearby Narathiwat province and a Muslim village official in Yala province, police said.
■ Philippines
Three killed in rebel attack
Three soldiers were killed when communist rebels attacked their detachment in a central Philippine village, a military report said yesterday. The guerrillas, numbering around 50, swooped down on the army detachment in the hinterland village of Solon, Asturias town in Cebu province, 560km south of Manila, late Saturday. The military report said soldiers fought back, but were outnumbered by the guerrillas resulting in the death of three troopers. Some of the troops assigned at the detachment were on civic duty when the attack occurred, the report added. Additional troops have been dispatched to hunt down the rebels.
■ India
Russians offer military help
Russia's defense minister said yesterday his country is willing to provide India with the latest weaponry and conclude new defense agreements, a news report said. Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov is on a three-day visit to India to observe joint Indian-Russian army and naval maneuvers. The two countries plan to collaborate on advanced fighter aircraft, warships and submarines, Ivanov said. India, a key ally of Moscow during the Cold War, has bought more than US$30 billion worth of Russian arms since 1960, and in recent years has closely followed China as the second-largest overseas customer of Russia's weapons industries.
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