PROTESTS: Naming his cousin as chief of security turned out to be a bad move for the Palestinian leader. Under pressure, he asked the former chief back
Backing down in the face of widespread protests, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat asked the ousted Palestinian chief of security to return to his job yesterday, placing him in command of his controversial cousin, Palestinian officials said.

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BOMBING: At least nine died, and many more were injured, in another of Iraq's now-routine tragedies. Meanwhile, a senior defense official was assassinated
A fuel truck rigged with explosives plowed toward a police station in southwest Baghdad early yesterday, exploding in flames and killing nine people and wounding about 60 others, Iraqi officials and witnesses said.

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YOUNG PEOPLE: Participants in an annual HIV/AIDS conference in Taipei report that teenagers and young adults are ignorant about a disease that could kill them
By Wang Hsiao-wen
The rate of HIV infection among young people is climbing and the government's efforts to fight the disease need to be redesigned to reflect realities in today's society, experts said yesterday.

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An Iranian general collaborated with al-Qaeda to arrange the transit through Iran of nine of the Sept. 11 hijackers, the Arabic-language newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported yesterday.

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The number of Chinese living in abject poverty rose by 800,000 last year, the first such increase in 25 years and since the start of economic reforms, one of the top officials on poverty alleviation was quoted yesterday as saying.

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