■ China
Uproar over expulsions
Schools in Urumqi have expelled students who tested positive for hepatitis-B, sparking outrage from central government authorities, the China Daily reported yesterday. The 19 students were banned from attending middle schools under guidelines issued by the city government, the paper said. "I am in a desperate situation now. No school is willing to accept me with a drop-out paper in my hand," one expelled student was quoted as saying. The school reportedly expelled the children because of fears they could spread the virus, even though it is mainly transmitted only through sexual contact and blood.
■ Czech Republic
Dalai Lama urges dialogue
The Dalai Lama called for a continuous dialogue between religions to avoid conflict on Tuesday at a Forum 2000 conference in Prague on "The Risks of Globalization." "In the past, like today, there have been divisions in the name of religion" and to overcome them "we should have a continuous dialogue between different religions," he said. The conference brought together a panel of political experts, intellectuals and religious leaders from around the world.
■ China
Bird flu back in the press
Beijing has reinstated daily reporting of the results of bird flu monitoring, the Xinhua news agency said yesterday. The daily reports, published by Xinhua, were to prepare for the huge number of migratory birds expected to fly over the country in coming weeks. "Officials should be aware of the dangers and should not underestimate the difficulty of controlling the virus," the vice minister of agriculture was quoted as saying.
■ Ethiopia
Leopard on the loose
A leopard is loose in the British embassy compound in Addis Ababa, the embassy said on Tuesday. "There have been lots of wildlife in the compound, including mongoose, jackals and civet cats. The leopard which we are talking about has caused no injuries," spokeswoman Holly Tett said. "The embassy is looking at different ways on how to deal with the leopard," she said, including trapping it. There were no details about how the predator entered the large compound.
■ Malawi
Madonna adopts boy
Madonna has adopted a one-year-old Malawian boy whose mother died a month after childbirth, the baby's father claimed, saying he was happy his son was escaping poverty. Malawian government officials said last week the pop star planned to adopt a Malawian boy while she is in the impoverished African nation visiting projects she funds for AIDS orphans. However, they declined to comment on Yohame Banda's claim that his son David had been adopted by the singer. Madonna has made no public comment since her arrival.
■ South Africa
Baby killed in shootout
A one-year-old girl was killed and seven people wounded in a shootout in the center of Johannesburg on Tuesday, police said. Khensani Athel Mitileni died after shooting broke out between a gang of armed men and two security guards who had been robbed of a box of cash, Superintendent Mary Martins-Engelbrecht said. The little girl's body lay covered on the bloodstained road next to a pile of vegetables as workers on their lunch breaks looked on in shock. The shooting caused chaos as people in the crowded downtown streets tried to flee from the scene.
■ Nigeria
Six charged on defense theft
Six people, including men from Ireland, Israel and Romania, were charged on Tuesday with illegally obtaining classified defense documents. Court papers allege the men worked with three Nigerian Defense Ministry officials to obtain information "related to a protected place." The information was to be passed on to the defense attache at the Russian embassy in Nigeria, according to the court papers. The three foreigners and three Nigerians were brought to court in Abuja under tight security. Each pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors said the alleged offenses were committed with a Russian and another Irish man now at large.
■ Bulgaria
Ill woman kills own, again
A Bulgarian woman who killed her son was released from prison because of terminal cancer. She then went home and killed her husband, police said on Tuesday. The 57-year-old was sentenced to 15 years in jail for killing her 29-year-old son with a garden hoe in April last year while he was sleeping. Last month, authorities judged her to be in the final stages of cancer and let her go home, where she stabbed her husband in the throat with a knife. "It was established she was in the last stage of cancer, she had it all over her body," a spokeswoman for the regional police said. "They presumed she was feeling bad and she would treat herself and rest."
■ Argentina
Police officer suspended
A police officer has been suspended for 10 days without pay for cheering a goal while on duty at a soccer match and sparking violent protests by fans. The policeman cheered the third goal scored by Estudiantes de La Plata, the city where he is based, in their 3-0 win at Lanus Saturday and was pelted with objects thrown by home team supporters until he was removed, local media reported.
■ Mexico
Four die in pothole brawl
Four people were killed when a dispute between two Tzotzil Indian families over a pothole in the street escalated into a full-blown shootout. One of the families closed off the poorly maintained road in the town of Banelos in the poor southern state of Chiapas to fill in a hole left by heavy rain. That angered a family with a transport business who needed to get their truck through, the Reforma newspaper said on Tuesday. Insults led to blows and finally the two families shot at each other using various caliber gun, Reforma said. Shootings are not uncommon in Mexico's little-policed indigenous regions, where many take the law into their own hands.
■ Chile
President faces past
President Michelle Bachelet said on Tuesday that she will visit the torture center where she and her mother were held and abused during the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. A left-leaning former defense minister, Bachelet has been widely credited with promoting national unity as the courts pursue human rights cases of the dictatorship era. "I know I will walk where I walked before, where my mother walked, and I also know that the questions I always ask will be stronger than just a whisper," she told a gathering of historians. "How could that happen? Was there something we could have done to avoid it? Are we now finally a society built on mutual respect?" she said.
■ El Salvador
Volcano sparks alert
Authorities declared an alert on Tuesday for an area around the Chaparrastique volcano after the peak began rumbling ominously. Interior Minister Rene Figueroa urged 45,000 people who live within an area of 4km2 around the peak to be ready for a possible call for evacuations. Seismologist Carlos Pullinger said the volcano had been experiencing relatively small, imperceptible tremors for days, but that in recent hours had emitted "continuous, abnormal vibrations." Such vibrations are sometimes observed before an eruption. The 2,129m volcano, located about 145km east of San Salvador, the capital, erupted in 1976. San Miguel, one of the country's largest cities, is located 50km from the volcano.
■ Brazil
Woman shoots mugger
When a mugger approached Maria Dora dos Santos Arbex and tried to steal her cellphone, purse and poodle, she pulled out a gun and shot him, police said on Tuesday. The 67-year-old woman has been charged with illegally carrying a firearm, and the homeless man who tried to rob her has not been charged. The case has drawn an outpouring of support for Arbex and stirred debate about the right to self-defense in a country where civilians are not allowed to carry concealed firearms. Arbex's daughter Katia said Alessandro Cardoso Pereira had threatened to steal her poodle the night before.
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