■JAPAN
Search for US poet to end
The weeklong search for an award-winning US poet who disappeared while hiking up a volcano on a remote Japanese island has yielded no clues and will end after a final day of searching, a police official said yesterday. An effort involving police, rescue workers, search dogs and a police helicopter will continue through today and then be called off, a local police official said. University of Wyoming professor Craig Arnold was reported missing on April 27 when he didn’t return from his hike on the tiny island of Kuchinoerabu-jima, about 50km off the coast of Kyushu. Arnold, 41, had been traveling all over the world, working on a book about volcanoes. He is the author of two award-winning books of poetry.
■BRAZIL
Ahmadinejad postpones trip
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has postponed a trip to Brazil planned for this week until after next month’s elections in the Islamic republic, foreign ministry officials in Brazil said on Monday. Officials said Tehran’s ambassador to Brazil Mohsen Shaterzadeh personally delivered a letter from Ahmadinejad to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, asking that he “accept the postponement of the official visit until ... after the presidential election.”
■BRAZIL
Floods leave 15 dead
Severe flooding has hit the northeast, killing 15 people and leaving 70,000 others homeless, authorities said on Monday. The states most affected by the flooding are Maranhao, Piaui, Ceara, Alagoas and Bahia. Six people were killed and six major highways were inundated in Maranho, drenched by the heaviest rains since 1985, civil defense authorities said. Sao Luis, the state capital, and 40 other towns have been battered by rains that have lasted nearly a month. An estimated 48,000 people were forced to leave their homes, and of those 22,000 lost their homes, a civil defense spokesman said.
■VENEZUELA
Quake rattles Caracas
A moderate earthquake rattled the capital on Monday, but there were no reports of damage or injuries. Venezuela’s seismological agency said the magnitude 5.4 quake was centered about 14km southwest of Los Teques on the outskirts of Caracas. Francisco Garces, president of the seismological agency, said there were no immediate reports of significant damage or injuries.
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