■ Ecuador
Tonnes of cocaine seized
US officials netted 5 tonnes of cocaine aboard a swamped Ecuadoran fishing boat west of the Galapagos Islands, Ecuadoran officials said on Monday. US officials boarded the sinking Ecuadoran trawler in international waters and arrested eight crew members, said Pablo Tascon, captain of Ecuador's navy in the port of Manta. The Williams left Guayaquil on Feb. 4, and was intercepted 2,800km west of the Galapagos. The Ecuadoran navy said the Williams sank because of a mechanical failure.
■ United States
Victims bin `bin Ladin show'
The news that a niece of Osama bin Laden is to star in a US reality TV show has provoked fury from families of some of those killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The series, being offered at auction to US TV networks, will follow the California-born Wafah Dufour as she follows her "dream to make it in the music business," according to Regan Media, which is producing it. Dufour, a 27-year-old graduate of Columbia University law school, was born Wafah bin Ladin, the daughter of Carmen bin Ladin, former wife of the al-Qaeda leader's half-brother Yeslam. "I understand that when people hear my last name, they have preconceived notions," Dufour said in a statement. "But I was born in America and I love my country."
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