■ United States
Missile falls off truck
A missile fell off a truck and onto a New York highway on Friday, but the weapon did not have a warhead and posed no danger, police said. WCBS radio reported it was a Tomahawk cruise missile. Police and fire department officials could not confirm that. The cargo came loose when the truck carrying it collided with another truck on a motorway in the Bronx. "It was a military-type missile but it was inert. There was no danger and no one was harmed," a police spokesman said.
■ Russia
Dollar dissonance demanded
Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov invented a new unit of currency on Friday: "That thing you are not allowed to say." Russia's parliament is in the process of adopting a law that will fine government ministers for saying "dollar" when they could have used the word "ruble" instead. But old habits die hard. Telling reporters about a contract to supply fighter aircraft to Venezuela, Ivanov said the deal had "a value of more than one billion of that thing that you are not allowed to say anymore." The ruble fell into neglect during years of galloping inflation and many Russians are now more comfortable quoting large sums in dollars. Parliament is introducing the ban to restore pride in the national currency.
■ United States
Choppers sold to Saudis
The White House said on Thursday it had approved the sale to Saudi Arabia of 24 UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters, radios, armored vehicles and other military equipment worth more than US$6 billion. Congress has 30 days to block the sales, although such action is rare. The Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency said the principal contractors for the different sales included Sikorsky Aircraft, a unit of United Technologies Corp, General Electric Co, Harris Corp, ITT Corp, General Dynamics Corp, and Raytheon Corp. The agency said in a mandatory notice to Congress that the arms sales would help strengthen Saudi Arabia's military and its ability to fight terrorism.
■ United States
New York blacks out
A mysterious blackout during the hottest week of the year left tens of thousands of New Yorkers without power in the city's Queens borough for a fifth day as residents sweltered, businesses idled and city officials seethed after the power company revealed the outages were 10 times larger than previously reported. "It's a total catastrophe. We've been throwing things out for four days," restaurant owner Louis Panazakos lamented as workers threw out garbage bags full of fresh pasta and sauces. Power company Con Edison initially said fewer than 2,500 customers were affected, but it increased that number tenfold on Friday morning to 25,000 customers.
■ Russia
Georgia, Ukraine skip meet
Georgia and Ukraine pulled out of a summit of former Soviet states on Friday, underscoring rising tensions 15 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who has been embroiled in a row with the Kremlin over the Georgian separatist region of South Ossetia, said he had cancelled his attendance due to a cabinet reshuffle. "The president is busy with important questions linked to his cabinet," the head of the presidential administration, Giorgi Arveladze, said. Saakashvili's non-attendance was one of a string of no-shows by leaders of the 12-member Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), set up after the break-up of the Soviet Union.
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