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World News Quick Take

■ SOUTH KOREA

Military kicks off exercises

Annual joint military exercises with the US kicked off yesterday while North Korea denounced the maneuvers as a rehearsal for an invasion. About 27,000 US troops, the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and an undisclosed number of South Korean soldiers participated in the drills, dubbed Key Resolve and Foal Eagle. The exercises, scheduled to last through Friday, involve a computer-simulated war game with field drills and "provide an excellent opportunity to improve ... combat readiness," said US Army General B.B. Bell, commander of US Forces Korea.



■ PHILIPPINES

Bomb wounds six

A bomb wounded two Filipino soldiers and four women at a bar near a southern military camp where US troops were conducting counterterrorism training, an army spokesman said yesterday. The blast wounded two army intelligence agents and four female workers at the karaoke bar on Jolo Island, about 950km south of Manila, army spokesman Major Roel Ebreo said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the Saturday night attack, which damaged the bar's walls.



■ VIETNAM

PM heads to Europe

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung planned to depart for England, Ireland and Germany today for a weeklong European tour. Dung hopes to expand economic ties and enhance development aid, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Dung is scheduled to meet with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern. He planned to talk with business leaders in the three countries and sign a number of agreements on investment and development aid. Germany is one of Vietnam's top European trade and investment partners.



■ INDIA

Tigers to receive funding

The government plans to spend more than US$13 million to establish a special ranger force to protect the country's endangered tigers, amid pressure from international conservationists to save the wild cats. The funding proposed on Friday by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram follows a US$153 million program announced just weeks ago to create new tiger reserves, underscoring renewed efforts by the government to protect the big cats. New estimates suggest the wild tiger population has dropped from nearly 3,600 five years ago to about 1,411, the government-run Tiger Project said last month.



■ AUSTRALIA

Gay pride draws crowds

Some 300,000 people lined the streets of Sydney on Saturday night to watch the largest gay pride parade in the region as the event marked its 30th anniversary, organizers said. Marchers dressed as sequined flight attendants, nuns and beach lifesavers formed part of the march, along with a lesbian motorcycle group who called themselves "Dykes on Bikes" and numerous Kylie Minogue lookalikes. The 1978 march was staged at a time when male homosexuality was illegal in New South Wales state and ended with more than 50 arrests as police and protesters clashed. But police, who now have their own contingent of gay officers marching in the parade, praised the event's organizers and said there had been little trouble among the crowd.



■ ITALY

Naples leader to stand trial

A judge has ordered the powerful president of the region surrounding Naples and 27 other people to stand trial in connection with the garbage collection crisis that has been plaguing the southern city. The trial of regional President Antonio Bassolino and his co-defendants was set to start May 14 in Naples, his lawyer said on Saturday. Charges include defrauding the state and abuse of office. Bassolino has denied wrongdoing. He said on Saturday that he would stay on and "fight with my head held high for the truth -- both political and judicial -- to emerge. I have done nothing wrong," he said.



■ SPAIN

Basques clash with police

Dozens of Basque separatists clashed with police who were guarding a far-right rally on Saturday in the northern seaside resort city of San Sebastian. The Falange party, linked to former dictator General Francisco Franco, had gathered at the central Pio XII plaza to hear leaders Ricardo Saenz de Ynestrillas and Manuel Andrino speak under heavy regional police protection. Participants sang anthems associated with Franco's regime and waved flags and banners. "This is not a provocation, we have come to celebrate our Spanishness," Ynestrillas said.



■ SOMALIA

Nine killed in fighting

At least nine people, including three soldiers, were killed in heavy fighting in the capital between insurgents and Somali and Ethiopian soldiers, witnesses said. Insurgents fired machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades at Somali soldiers on patrol on Saturday in the southern part of Mogadishu, said Mumin Mohamed Sahal and Muse Abdulle Hassan, who separately witnessed the fighting. Ethiopian soldiers, who are supporting the Somali government, later joined in. "I saw the dead bodies of five civilians and a government soldier in different places in our village," Hassan said.



■ SPAIN

Hunters want law repealed

Thousands of pro-hunting demonstrators blowing bugles and accompanied by hunting dogs, thronged a boulevard in central Madrid on Saturday to protest a law restricting the use of lead shot. The protest was called by three farming and hunting organizations who demanded that the winner of national elections scheduled for next Sunday repeal the law introduced on Dec. 13 by the current government to try to reduce around 6,000 tonnes of lead which annually pollute the country's ecologically rich wetlands. Organizers estimated up to half a million protesters turned out.



■ UNITED KINGDOM

AP editor remembered

Donald McKay McNicoll, a longtime editor for the Associated Press (AP) whose coverage of Winston Churchill's death appeared in thousands of newspapers around the globe, has died at age 93. McNicoll, who suffered a stroke in 2000, died last Monday in St. Mary's Hospital in London, his family said. Known as "Mac" to colleagues and friends, the Scottish-born McNicoll was widely admired for his editing skills and quick decisions in handling stories. "McNicoll was the one person whom I always found extremely keen to know about and help with everything that was going on," said Horst Faas, AP's Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer and former European photo editor.



■ UNITED STATES

'Experimental' planes crash

A small airplane that may have had trouble landing struck another aircraft that was taxiing at a Florida airfield and both burst into flames on Saturday, killing two people, authorities said. Two others were critically injured. Both planes were single-engine craft known as "experimental" or amateur-built. The Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 866 was hosting a pancake breakfast at the Arthur Dunn Airpark. One airplane was apparently flying low or had just landed when it crashed into the other plane around 8:30am, said Scott Gaenicke, public information officer for Titusville Fire and Emergency Medical Services.



■ UNITED STATES

Rap star shocked by murder

The rap star Juvenile is "shocked and devastated" by the shooting death of his young daughter, the girl's mother and another child, his manager said on Saturday. The 32-year-old rapper is still trying to cope with the death of four-year-old Jelani; her mother, 39-year-old Joy Deleston; and the woman's daughter Micaiah, 11, whose bodies were found on Thursday night in their home, manager Aubrey Francis said. Anthony Tyrone Terrell, 17, is being held in the DeKalb County jail, charged in the killings near Lawrenceville, Georgia. Deleston brought a paternity lawsuit in 2004, claiming that Juvenile, or Terius Gray, was Jelani's father, Gwinnett County court records show. Both parties later agreed Juvenile was the father.



■ UNITED STATES

Crowd mobs tomatoes

A video-sharing Web site set out to observe Leap Day by handing out prizes worth up to US$29 on Friday outside Manhattan's Union Square Park, but as the clock turned to 2:29pm, about 100 people trampled one another and mobbed representatives of CashTomato.com, who were dressed as tomatoes. Some people wrested bags of cash-stuffed envelopes and other items from the workers, said Jason Buzi, the company's senior vice president. "Before I knew it, I was on the floor" and under a pile of people, said Anabel DeJesus, 17. "It's not worth it,'' she said. Police did not have any information Saturday on whether anyone was injured or arrested.



■ PERU

Capsize victims rescued

Rescue workers plucked three children and a woman from beneath the overturned hull of a ferry that capsized on a remote river in the jungle, killing 15, police said on Saturday. The four were kept alive for 20 hours by an air bubble that rose to the top of the hull when the boat flipped on Thursday. Rescue workers heard shouts coming from the hull early on Friday, but were unable to saw through the ship's thick metal exterior. At nightfall, navy divers swam through the Tapiche River and up into the submerged boat, pulling the survivors to safety. It is not clear what caused the boat to upend, police said.



■ MEXICO

Police close flak vest shop

Police have closed down a store run by Miguel Caballero, a Colombian designer sometimes known as "the Armani of bulletproof clothing," for selling bulletproof vests without a permit. While Caballero's clothes -- including a line of casual and formal jackets for women -- can withstand bullets, they got caught in a crossfire of strict regulations in part aimed at keeping flak vests out of the hands of criminals. On Saturday, the government announced the closure of the store in Mexico City. Miguel Caballero Ltd is known for its slim, stylish and round-resistant sport coats, leather jackets and shirts.
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