■ Pakistan
Police involved in blast?
Police have rounded up a dozen suspects after a car bomb killed three people outside a KFC outlet in Karachi this week, an official said yesterday. A policeman was among those arrested over Tuesday's blast, which destroyed a KFC branch and engulfed several cars in flames, the senior official said on condition of anonymity. "Police have detained around one dozen people during raids in different parts of the city following a lead provided by a key suspect," he said.
■ Philippines
Bali bombers still in hiding
Two top Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militants are still hiding in the southern Philippines and continuing to fund local terrorist activities despite intensified military offensives, the armed forces chief said yesterday. General Generoso Senga said government troops were continuing to track down Dulmatin and Umar Patek in Mindanao, where they were believed to be hiding. The two JI militants are wanted for their involvement in the 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia, which killed more than 200 people.
■ Hong Kong
Senior citizens hurt in crash
A truck and two buses carrying mostly senior citizens crashed into each other on a Hong Kong highway yesterday, injuring 96 people, police said. The accident happened in the suburban Tai Po area where the three vehicles were involved in a chain collision, and the victims have been taken to hospital. There were no reports of serious injuries. TV images showed the injured people, mostly elderly -- some with blood streaming down their faces -- sitting at the roadside while they received first aid. The cause of the crash is under investigation, police said.
■ Japan
`Gutsy Radish' assaulted
A giant white radish that won the hearts of a Japanese town by valiantly growing through the urban asphalt was in intensive care at a town hall in western Japan yesterday after being slashed by an unknown assailant. The "daikon" radish, shaped like a giant carrot, first made the news months ago when it was noticed poking up through asphalt along a roadside in the town of Aioi, population 33,289. This week local residents, who had nicknamed the vegetable "Gutsy Radish," were shocked -- and in some cases moved to tears -- when they found it had been decapitated. TV talk shows seized on the attempted murder of the popular vegetable and a day later, the top half of the radish was found near the site where it had been growing.
■ Australia
Gun-toting women arrested
Four Australian women were arrested while trying to board a plane in Syria after a dismantled handgun was allegedly found inside a toy the women were carrying, officials and media reports said yesterday. The Department of Foreign Affairs said the four Australian women, who were not immediately identified, were with two Iraqi women and a child when they were detained at Damascus airport on Tuesday. All six women were of Iraqi origin, the department said in a statement. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the child was also Australian. "They were detained in Syria and believed to have in their possession a disassembled gun," Downer told reporters.
■ Australia
Poisonous lizards identified
Australia, already home to a frightening array of venomous snakes, spiders and jellyfish, now has to contend with the knowledge that many of its backyard lizards are also poisonous. Until now the only known poisonous lizard was the Gila Monster, or beaded lizard, native to the deserts of the southwestern US and Mexico. But an international team of scientists led by molecular geneticist Brian Fry of the Australian Venom Research unit at Melbourne University has discovered two more poisonous lizard species -- monitors and iguanas.
■ Thailand
Zoo puts animals on menu
VIP guests at the grand opening of the night safari zoo in northern Thailand will not only get to see exotic animals -- they'll get to taste them. The Chiang Mai Night Safari Zoo will have its official opening on New Year's Day, and the "Exotic Buffet" marking the event will include tiger, lion, elephant and giraffe, said Plodprasop Suraswadi, the director of the zoo project. "The VIP guest who pay 4,500 baht [US$110] for the buffet will have the privilege of tasting an exotic menu, ranging from dog meat from [Thailand's Sakhon Nakhon province] to lion meat from Africa," Plodprasop told reporters.
■ North Korea
NGOs ordered to leave
North Korea has ordered nongovernmental European aid groups to leave the country after the EU submitted a UN resolution criticizing Pyongyang's human rights record, aid workers said. The order covers at least 11 of the 12 foreign nongovernmental organizations in the isolated North, which has struggled for a decade with severe food shortages. The groups affected are running health, sanitation, forestry and other programs. "The NGOs have been asked to wind up their operations by the 31st of December. They have several months to exit the country in the New Year," the coordinator for an Irish humanitarian group said.
■ United States
Top drug official arrested
Guatemala's top anti-narcotic official was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the US. Adan Castillo and his deputy, Jorge Aguilar, were arrested on Tuesday after traveling to the US from their home country, along with a third agent, Rubilio Palacios. Castillo runs Guatemala's anti-narcotics bureau, and went to the US at the invitation of the US government to participate in a training seminar. The indictment charges the officials with conspiracy to import cocaine and distribute it in the US.
■ Ireland
Paisley sued by daughter
The daughter of Northern Ireland Protestant leader Ian Paisley has taken legal action against him and other members of his political party, accusing them of sexual discrimination over a failed job application. On Wednesday a case was lodged by Rhonda Paisley, who says she was not selected for a position within the Democratic Unionist Party's (DUP) policy unit last year because of her gender. Paisley, a former member of Belfast city council, had taken the case against the DUP's chief executive but also named her father and other senior members of the party, including her brother Ian Paisley Jr.
■ Mexico
Marital rape made a crime
The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that forced sexual relations within marriage constitutes rape, making it a crime throughout the country for the first time. Laws are already on the books in some states in Mexico and in Mexico City establishing the crime of rape within marriage but the unanimous ruling now makes it illegal anywhere in Mexico. "The judges concluded that when one of the partners obtains copulation through violent means -- whether physical or moral -- it constitutes the crime of rape," the high court said. In 1994, the court ruled that forced relations represented the "improper exercise" of the right under marriage to have sexual relations but it was not deemed a crime.
■ United States
X-Scream riders stranded
It's called the X-Scream ride, but the 90 minutes spent by Japanese tourists dangling high in the air over Las Vegas was more than they had paid for. The six visitors were stranded 244m above ground when the electricity went out on the X-Scream, a ride at the Stratosphere Tower. The tower went dark on Tuesday when a car hit a power transformer, and the ride's backup electricity supply failed to kick in. That left the Japanese visitors hanging over the ledge of the tower, getting a long look down at the neon-lit gambling Strip below while late afternoon temperatures dropped and winds started gusting.
■ United Kingdom
Lords may lift ban on notes
The House of Lords is debating whether to allow the public to take written notes of proceedings, some 174 years after it created a press gallery where journalists may do so. During a Tuesday debate, Lord Dubs recalled that he had once been a visitor to the parliament's upper chamber "and had the temerity to scratch three words on a bit of paper. I was threatened that if I did it again I would be removed forthwith. It is time that we brought this house into the present century." The possibility of change was not unanimously welcomed. Lord Tebbit called on members to resist "the mad idea of this House being dragged into this century."
■ Mexico
Teacher retires at 102
Albina Cruces Vazquez has just retired as a schoolteacher at the age of 102, after having worked for 85 years. "I don't want to go into retirement, but it is time to give way to some new ideas," Cruces said. Cruces started work in 1920 in Guanajuato state but moved to Mexico City eight years later. In 1947, she founded the Eduardo Noveo primary school, which she has run for the past 58 years.
■ Italy
Three Algerians arrested
Authorities arrested three Algerians suspected of links to an Algerian militant group that has allied itself with Osama bin Laden. Investigators believe the three were "potentially operative" -- ready to attack -- and weren't merely in Italy to provide logistical support such as false documents, which has been a common accusation against terrorism suspects in Italy. The three were detained in Naples and Brescia on Tuesday night and Wednesday on suspicion of association with the aim of international terrorism -- a charge introduced in Italy after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The three were identified as Yamine Bouhrama, Khaled Serai and Mohamed Larbi.
■ Canada
Opposition plans to oust PM
Conservative leader Stephen Harper said on Wednesday that he and fellow opposition leaders plan to oust Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberals from power in a no-confidence vote on Nov. 28. Canada's three opposition parties had earlier hit Martin with an ultimatum to set elections for February or face a confidence vote in Parliament. This came shortly after New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton withdrew his crucial support of the Liberals following the publication of a damning report on a government funding scandal involving the previous Liberal government. The latest SES public opinion poll put the Liberals 6 percent ahead of the Conservatives, enough to form another minority government.
■ United States
Scotty's space burial to wait
A space launch company said it has been forced to delay plans to launch the remains of Star Trek actor James Doohan into space until probably February. Space Services representative Charles Chafer said the delay was needed to allow engineers to carry out more testing on the space ship to carry the ashes into space. Doohan played the Star Trek engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott on the popular TV series, and was best known for receiving the order "Beam me up, Scotty" from Captain Kirk. Doohan died aged 85. He had expressed the wish to have his cremated remains blasted into space. Doohan's remains were to have been ejected from the space ship in a small capsule along with the remains of 200 other space fans and were set to orbit the Earth for between 50 to 200 years.
■ United Kingdom
Decaf may be unhealthy
Drinking decaffeinated coffee may be bad for your heart -- a finding that will come as a shock to those who think ridding the beverage of its powerful stimulant might make it better for them. A study comparing the cardiac health of 187 coffee drinkers published on Wednesday suggested decaf versions of the world's most popular drink could help raise "bad" cholesterol, which at high levels can lead to disease of the arteries. But overweight people may do better to stick with decaf since, among them, there were higher levels of "good" cholesterol, which has been linked to improved prospects for avoiding heart disease.
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