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World News Quick Take

■ AFGHANISTAN

Suspected militants killed

Government and US-led coalition forces killed several suspected Taliban militants in an operation in volatile Helmand Province, the coalition said. The joint forces searched residential compounds for militants associated with Taliban extremists in the area, and for other militants helping foreign insurgents, the coalition said in a statement on Tuesday. During the search on Monday, militants hiding in one of the compounds opened fire on the troops, who responded with gunfire and grenades, the coalition said. It said the joint forces killed ``several'' militants, but it did not give a number. No civilians were killed or wounded in the violence, the statement said.



■ AUSTRALIA

Immigrant test gets review

The government will review its decision to require a test for would-be citizens after new figures showed that around 20 percent of applicants fail, a newspaper reported yesterday. The test, introduced last October by the conservative government of former prime minister John Howard, requires all prospective citizens to complete a series of questions on the country's history, politics and values. Applicants must score above 60 percent to pass, but can sit the computer-based exam as many times as necessary. Such citizenship tests are common in other countries, including the US.



■ AUSTRALIA

Massages cut from budget

The new government has banned taxpayer-funded massages for pampered bureaucrats as part of an austerity drive, a minister said yesterday. Assistant Treasurer Chris Bowen said public service chiefs have been told that they and their staff would have to pay for their own back rubs as part of the new government's clampdown on public sector largesse and waste. The most recent figures produced in parliament showed that bureaucrats spent A$108,710 (US$95,451) in public money on rub downs in 2004.



■ CHINA

Riders left hanging

A rollercoaster stalled at the top of a loop at the country's biggest amusement park, leaving passengers stranded upside down, their legs pointed toward the sky. Eighteen passengers were left hanging for half an hour several meters above the park on New Year's Eve on Monday in the eastern province of Anhui, the China Daily said. The passengers were riding the "Fireball" attraction at the Wuhu Fangte Amusement Park when the rollercoaster came to an abrupt halt. "Park officials and local authorities rescued the stranded passengers after about 30 minutes and six were rushed to hospital and treated for dizziness," Xinhua news agency said. Investigations revealed that strong headwind had triggered a mechanical fault, the agency said.



■ Philippines

Plane overshoots runway

An airplane carrying 47 people overshot a runway yesterday and struck a concrete fence, damaging the aircraft but causing no injuries, officials said. Authorities closed the airport in Masbate Province after the fuel tank on the YS11 turboprop sprang a leak, the officials said. Emergency crews helped the 43 passengers and four crew members out of the YS11 turboprop plane, operated by Asian Spirit, a budget carrier that provides service to remote destinations. The aircraft had touched down from a regular Manila flight when a strong tail wind apparently pushed it forward, causing it to overshoot the runway.



■ UNITED STATES

Violence up in New Orleans

The country's bloodiest city in 2006, reeling from crime in its struggle to recover from Hurricane Katrina, got even worse last year. New Orleans registered 209 homicides last year, a nearly 30 percent increase from the 161 recorded in 2006. The FBI's rankings for the year are not out yet, but as New Orleans' population is thought to be 295,450, that would mean a rate of about 71 homicides per 100,000 people. To compare that number with some other notoriously bloody cities, the rate for Gary, Indiana, was 48.3 and Detroit's was 47.1.



■ UNITED STATES

Man returns lost check

Reggie Damone just wanted to jot down a phone number when he picked up what he thought was litter on a sidewalk this week. But what he found was an envelope containing a US$185,000 check. Damone, who receives government-issued food stamps for low-income workers, said he did not even consider trying to cash it. Instead, the 47-year-old took a bus on Monday from his Jewett City, Connecticut, home to a bank and returned the check to the niece of the landlord to whom the check was written. She thanked Damone with a US$50 bill.



■ UNITED STATES

Kissing escape plan foiled

A burglary suspect in Dedham, Massachusetts, planned to escape using a handcuff key his girlfriend would pass him during either a hug or a kiss in court, but he forgot one crucial factor, authorities say. The problem, they said, was that James Miller discussed the plot with Theresa Fougere during phone calls from jail, which are monitored. Inmates are warned that their phone conversations are not private. Miller has now been charged with attempted escape. Fougere was arrested on Monday on charges of attempting to aid a felon to escape. Police said she gave them the key. A spokesman for the sheriff's office did not know where she got the key.



■ UNITED STATES

Mall killer was on Valium

Only an anti-anxiety medication turned up in toxicology tests done on the body of the 19-year-old gunman who fatally wounded eight people before killing himself last month at a shopping mall in Nebraska. The autopsy report on Robert Hawkins revealed diazepam in his system. The tranquilizer is better known by its market name, Valium. Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine told the Omaha World-Herald in a story on Tuesday that authorities sometimes "see people who have abused drugs or alcohol to give them the ability to carry out their misdeed." "In this case," Kleine said, "it doesn't appear he had abused either."



■ UNITED STATES

FBI hasn't forgotten hijacker

The FBI is making a new stab at identifying skyjacker Dan Cooper, who bailed out of an airliner in 1971 and vanished, releasing new details that it hopes will jog someone's memory. The man who used the name "Dan Cooper" boarded a flight in Portland and commandeered the plane. In Seattle, he demanded US$200,000 and four parachutes. Somewhere over Washington state, he jumped out of the plane with two parachutes. On Monday, the FBI released drawings of Cooper and a map of areas where he may have landed. The FBI said that while he was originally thought to have been an experienced jumper, it has since concluded that he almost certainly did not survive the jump. In 1980, a boy walking near the Columbia River found US$5,800 of the stolen money in tattered US$20 bills.
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