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World News Quick Take

■ Uzbekistan
Station claims crackdown
A leading independent, US-government funded European radio service on Monday said Uzbek authorities refused to extend accreditation of its Tashkent bureau, decrying what it said was a further erosion of "the already dismal state of free speech" in that country. Radio Free Europe, which is funded by the US Congress, said it received a letter Monday from the Uzbek Ministry of Foreign Affairs refusing to extend the accreditation under which the station's bureau in the capital had operated. The accred-itation of four journalists working in RFL/RL three local services was also suspended, the station said.

■ India
Below-the-belt flags banned
The government has banned the use of the national flag on underwear or on any other clothing worn below the belt, a report said yesterday. However, sports figures and others can wear the green, white and orange national colors on T-shirts, caps and coats, according to legislation passed on Monday by parliament, the Hindu reported. The legislation makes it illegal to "insult" national symbols by displaying them on clothes and accessories worn below the belt or on underwear, the newspaper said. The legislation also makes it illegal to embroider national symbols on pillow cases and handerkerchiefs. Interior Minister Shivraj Patil told parliament the measures were in response to suggestions by the public.

■ China
River cleanup loan approved
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a US$100 million loan to help clean up a polluted river basin in China by promoting waste water management and pollution control. The Manila-based ADB said the project would build facilities for waste water collection and treatment and delivery of fresh water in 15 cities around the Hai River Basin, one of the most polluted river systems in China. The ADB said the project would benefit some 1.5 million people residing in these cities, about 170,000 of whom are living below the poverty line.

■ Japan
Police warn on extremism
Police warned yesterday that Islamic extremists may tempt Muslim communities in Japan to turn radical and attack Japan, whose government has been a staunch backer of the US-led war on Iraq. In an annual report released yesterday, the National Police Agency said it would work closely with other Japanese authorities and foreign security authorities to bar terrorists from entering the country. "We cannot rule out the possibility of Japan becoming a target of terrorism as there are many facilities linked to the United States, which has been a target of Islamic extremists," the report said.

■ Philippines
Snake causes chaos
A 2m python caused a commotion at a Manila police station yesterday, with policemen forced to destroy an officer's desk where the snake was hiding, officials said. Policemen in the Quiapo district managed to subdue the animal. "The policemen on duty were afraid, but they could not leave because a television camera was filming the whole thing," Senior Police Officer Cesar Sabile said. The incident started before dawn when a bystander saw the python near a fast-food restaurant. Village guards managed to capture the snake and bring it to the police station. But the python quickly escaped and hid in the desk. The unharmed python was later turned over to Manila Zoo representatives.

■ Israel
`Holy' cops probed
Hundreds of Israeli policemen are under investigation on suspicion of undergoing a quickie rabbinical ordination for a monthly stipend of 2,000 shekels (US$435) rather than any sense of religious calling, Haaretz newspaper said in a weekend expose. Citing Justice Ministry sources, it said the affair came to light after a policeman-cum-rabbi was probed for domestic violence, and investigators noticed his padded paycheck. Wages for Israeli police begin at around 4,000 shekels.

■ Nigeria
Children mourn crash dead
Children from a Catholic school wept and hugged each other on Monday as they remembered some 50 of their classmates killed in a plane crash. President Olusegun Obasanjo paid his condolences on a visit to the school and promised to act swiftly to improve aviation safety in the country after two recent planes crashes. The Sosoliso Airlines plane crashed killing 106 people as it came into land at Port Harcourt airport on Saturday. Three others pulled from the wreckage are still alive. Civil aviation officials said on Saturday it missed the runway in bad weather. Investigators have found both the data recorders of the DC9, but have yet to reach a conclusion on the cause of the crash.

■ Serbia-Montenegro
Radioactive sites cleared
Authorities are completing the clean-up of depleted uranium left over from NATO's bombing campaign in 1999, the Environment Ministry said on Monday. More than six years after the alliance used depleted uranium shells in its air war against government troops fighting Kosovo Albanian separatists, the clean-up of the radioactive pollutants has been completed at a major site in southern Serbia, the ministry said. Nuclear experts and clean-up teams removed 3,468m3 of contaminated soil from the Borovac site, 280km south of Belgrade, where 44 depleted uranium shells exploded. Two other sites in the area were previously decontaminated, the statement said.

■ Belgium
EU shelves Israel report
A controversial report that accuses Israel of rushing to annex Arab areas of East Jerusalem was shelved by European foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday out of sensitivity to Israel. Javier Solana, the EU's foreign-policy chief, persuaded ministers to drop the report when he warned that Europe's influence over Israel would be severely undermined if it were to be published. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, whose diplomats in East Jerusalem drafted the report as part of Britain's EU presidency, announced the climbdown at a meeting of EU foreign ministers. "We thought it was appropriate not to endorse or to publish the document, but instead to continue to make representations about our concerns in the normal way," Straw said.

■ Gaza strip
Election center stormed
Masked Palestinian gunmen stormed an election center in the Gaza Strip on Monday and forced it to close, the latest sign that chaos and violence could undermine the parliamentary election. The gunmen burst into the office of the election committee in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, unhappy with reports that Fatah oldtimers would select the list of party candidates for the Jan. 25 election, instead of relying on primaries. It was the third such attack in recent days.

■ United States
Tsunami readiness weak
A tsunami could endanger a million or more people along California's coast and cripple Pacific ports, according to a report released on Monday that highlights weaknesses in US preparations for a killer wave. The study by the California Seismic Safety Commission found flaws in the tsunami warning system, incomplete and underfunded local evacuation plans and building codes that have not been updated to protect occupants from the power of tidal surge. The report concludes that one of the biggest risks is to the port complex at Los Angeles and Long Beach.

■ United States
Wikipedia hoaxer says sorry
The author of a Wikipedia entry that falsely implicated a prominent writer in both Kennedy assassinations and prompted a row about the online encyclopedia's reliability has apologized to his victim, saying that it was a "joke that went horribly, horribly wrong." In a hand-delivered letter to journalist John Seigenthaler, Brian Chase, an employee of a Nashville delivery firm, said he inserted the false online biography as a prank on a co-worker. His contribution had falsely accused Seigenthaler of having been linked to the assassination of John and Robert Kennedy, and of having lived in the former Soviet Union for 13 years.

■ United States
Bush decries slow response
President George W. Bush said on Monday he was appalled by the government's response to Hurricane Katrina, acknowledging his own responsibility. "I was appalled that a nation as wealthy as ours was not able to respond as effectively as we should have and took blame for it," Bush said. "I mean, to the extent that the federal government was ineffective, I'm responsible. And I understand that. And now the question is how do we learn lessons from the response." Speaking in an interview with NBC Nightly News, Bush urged patience amid criticism that the reconstruction has slowed. "The devastation is so big, it's going to take a while to rebuild," he said.

■ Colombia
Fighters turn in weapons
Nearly 2,000 right-wing paramilitary fighters turned in weapons and helicopter gunships on Monday in one of the country's largest disarmament ceremonies, firing wild bursts of gunfire into the air before giving uptheir rifles. In exchange for disbanding, the fighters from the outlawed United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, were granted amnesty and will begin receiving a monthly stipend of US$180 from the government. The fighters of the AUC's Central Bolivar Bloc surrendered 1,254 rifles, 80 other guns, 526 grenades, 13 rockets and two helicopters. Paramilitary factions have been disarming since 2003 as part of a peace deal brokered by President Alvaro Uribe.

■ Haiti
Kidnappers extradited to US
Haitian authorities have extradited two suspected kidnappers to the US for allegedly abducting more than 50 US nationals, police said on Monday. "We have gotten the green light from the judicial and government authorities to extradite them [the suspects]," the director-general of the Haitian police, Mario Andresol, said. Widmaille Dorvilier and Jerome Joseph are accused of carrying out more than 50 kidnappings of US citizens in Port-au-Prince, said Michael Lucius, commissioner of Haiti's judicial police. Kidnappings of foreigners for ransom have soared in Haiti despite the presence of a UN peace-keeping force.

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