■ UNITED KINGDOM
Fire rips through market
A fire tore through London's Camden market, ripping through stalls and gutting an iconic pub, officials and witnesses said. There were no reported casualties. More than 100 firefighters and 20 engines battled the blaze late on Saturday at the sprawling clothes and crafts market, one of the capital's top shopping and tourist destinations. London's fire department said the flames were brought under control in around six hours. Flames shot up about 12m, sending smoke billowing as bright red sparks crackled in the night sky.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Hijackers wreck beer truck
Two men attempting to hijack a beer truck in London on Saturday ended up crashing the vehicle only a few hundred meters away, spilling beer canisters into the street and drenching the road with alcohol. Police and a witness said two men, one reportedly brandishing a gun, forced their way aboard the truck as it was stopped on a west London street. The driver left the vehicle and the suspects jumped in, speeding off and toppling the truck over as it rounded a corner. "Everything just poured out of it," said Jags Khokhar, 27, who works at a nearby garage. "All the cans came out of the top half of the lorry [truck], and there was spillage everywhere." The driver was unhurt and the two hijackers escaped.
■ ALGERIA
Police force bolstered
Authorities will add 15,000 extra police officers per year as the country grapples with terrorism and other threats, the national security chief said on Saturday. Ali Tounsi, speaking at a graduation ceremony for a new crop of investigators, said the force would be expanded through 2010 to reach a target of 200,000 officers nationwide. The program will allow the gas-rich country "to carry out its development projects in a climate of security," he said, alluding to recent attacks. On Thursday, suspected Islamist militants killed eight police by spraying their vehicle with machine-gun fire.
■ THAILAND
Drug policy to be reviewed
The new government will review its predecessor's decision to ignore patents on several cancer-fighting drugs, a move that allowed cheaper generic versions to be imported and manufactured. On Jan. 4, the government of former prime minister Surayud Chulanont issued so-called "compulsory licenses" for four anti-cancer drugs, effectively depriving the drugs' license holders of patent protection. The object of compulsory licensing was to make some drugs more affordable by taking away the patent holder's ability to control prices. According to international trade rules, a government may issue a compulsory license to manufacture a generic drug only in case of a national health emergency.
■ INDIA
Body of guru arrives
The body of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a one-time spiritual advisor to the Beatles who died last week in the Netherlands, arrived on Saturday in the northern part of the country for last rites. The Maharishi, who died on Tuesday in his home in the Dutch village of Vlodrop where he had been living since 1990, will be cremated early today, an activist of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) said in New Delhi. He said the Maharishi's body was flown to Varanasi before being taken by road to the pilgrimage center of Allahabad, situated on the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, considered sacred by devout Hindus. In Allahabad, people lined the streets as the motorcade drove past.
■ UNITED STATES
Gay Mormons speak out
A group of gay Mormons is seeking an unprecedented meeting with new church president Thomas Monson and his counselors. The group Affirmation, with more than 2,000 gay, lesbian and transgender members, is not recognized by the church. "Although there are many areas of hurt and disagreement that have separated us, there are many more areas on which we can find agreement, and in doing so, become a blessing in the lives of many of the Saints, both straight and gay," the group wrote to Monson last week.
■ UNITED STATES
Fire destroys mosque
A mosque was destroyed by a fire that federal investigators say appears to have been caused by arson. No one was injured. Investigators found drawings of swastikas and other graffiti at the Islamic Center of Columbia, Tennessee, said Special Agent Eric Kehn of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Daoud Abudiab, president of the center, said authorities told him the fire probably started around 5am on Saturday. The graffiti included the words "white power" and "we run the world," Abudiab said. Ten to 15 people regularly worshipped at the mosque.
■ UNITED STATES
Bride dies at wedding
Florida resident Kim Sjostrom wanted a real-life version of the film My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which played in the background as friends fixed her hair and makeup before her own marriage ceremony. But less than an hour after she and Teddy Efkarpides were wed, Sjostrom crumpled in her husband's arms during a Greek song that means "Love Me." At 36, Sjostrom was dead from heart disease. The wedding had became a project at the elementary school in Davie, where Sjostrom taught first grade. During the couple's first dance, Sjostrom complained of being lightheaded. Efkarpides thought his wife, a diabetic, needed sugar, but she collapsed and could not be revived.
■ UNITED STATES
Allan Grant dies at 88
Allan Grant, a Life magazine staff photographer who captured such historic moments as the atomic bomb tests in the Nevada desert to some of the last photos of Marilyn Monroe before her suicide, has died. He was 88. Grant died at his home in Brentwood, California, on Feb. 1, his wife Karin Grant said. Among the more famous moments Allan Grant shot were Howard Hughes flying for less than minute in the mammoth Spruce Goose in 1947 and best-actress nominees Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly waiting backstage at the 1955 Academy Awards. Grant received his first camera at age 10 when he traded a model airplane with another boy.
■ US VIRGIN ISLANDS
No clothes, no problem
A veteran police officer won praise on Friday for not letting a lack of clothes get in the way of trying to make an arrest. Police Chief Rodney Querrard publicly thanked Officer Dariel Chinnery, who was dressed only in his underwear when he jumped into his cruiser last week and chased two men suspected in a violent armed robbery in St Thomas. On Tuesday night, a man frantically banged on Chinnery's door, saying he had just been shot in the arm by two men who demanded all his money, police said. Chinnery grabbed his gun and gave chase as the assailants drove away.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing