■ Afghanistan
Constitution becomes law
President Hamid Karzai has signed the post-Taliban Constitution into law, hailing its promise of equal rights in hopes of uniting his splintered nation and ending a reign of violence. Karzai called out a triumphant "Congratulations!" to Afghan leaders who helped draw up the 162-article Constitution and signed a decree making the document the nation's supreme law in a ceremony on Monday. It outlines a tolerant and democratic Islamic republic under a strong presidency, a two-chamber parliament and an independent judiciary. It also recognizes minority language rights and declares men and women equal before the law.
■ Afghanistan
Canadian forces attacked
Three Canadian soldiers were injured in the Afghan capital yesterday in what Afghan police officials said was a suicide attack. General Haroon Asifi, a commander in the Afghan Interior Ministry, said one Canadian was killed, but spokesmen from the NATO-led international security force said they couldn't confirm any deaths. Nine civilians were also hurt. Ali Jan Askaryar, head of police in the western district of Kabul where the blast occurred, said the Canadians were part of a three-vehicle patrol.
■ Australia
Australia Day takes its toll
Dozens of people were hospitalized in the western city of Perth late on Monday as hot temperatures and alcohol took their toll on a celebration of Australia's national day, ambulance staff said. Peter Burton, a spokesman for the ambulance service, said at least 75 people were hospitalized and hundreds more treated by ambulance staff -- mainly as a result of fighting, drinking and high temperatures that reached 34oC. Fights broke out around a fireworks show staged by the city to mark Australia Day which attracted hundreds of thousands of spectators. Police said there were at least two serious brawls in the city and a stabbing.
■ Australia
PM blasts author Greer
Australian Prime Minister John Howard branded feminist author Germaine Greer "elitist" and "condescending" yesterday after she criticized Australians as "too relaxed to give a damn" in a newspaper article. Greer, the acclaimed author of The Female Eunuch, said Australia was drifting into a suburban mediocrity personified by the residents of Ramsay Street -- the fictional location of long-running soap opera Neighbours. "If your ambition is to live on Ramsay Street, where nobody has even been heard to discuss a book or a movie, let alone an international event, then Australia may be the place for you," she wrote in The Australian daily last Thursday.
■ China
Factory disguised as jail
The sign said it was a prison and those inside weren't allowed out. But Chinese police say the building was really something else -- a disguised factory that made counterfeit cigarettes. Investigators who raided the factory in the western city of Meishan found 117 tonnes of tobacco and 565 cartons of cigarettes with 20 brand names, the official Xinhua News Agency said yesterday. "Workers were treated like prisoners, as they were not allowed to go out and had to stay in the `factory' round the clock," the report said.
■ United States
Judge weakens Patriot Act
For the first time, a federal judge has struck down part of the sweeping anti-terrorism law known as the USA Patriot Act, joining other courts that have challenged the Bush administration's campaign against terrorism. In Los Angeles, Judge Audrey B. Collins of US District Court, said in a decision made public on Monday that a provision in the law banning certain types of support for terrorist groups was so vague that it risked contravening the First Amendment. At issue was a provision in the act that expanded previous anti-terrorism law to prohibit anyone from providing "expert advice or assistance" to known terrorist groups. The law could threaten "unequivocally pure speech and advocacy protected by the First Amendment," the judge wrote.
■ United States
Clark takes NH hamlet
General Wesley Clark captured eight of the 15 votes cast for Democrats in the first balloting of the New Hampshire primary yesterday in the northern hamlet of Dixville Notch, giving his candidacy a symbolic boost before the rest of the state goes to the polls. All 26 registered voters in Dixville Notch cast ballots -- 11 for US President George W. Bush. Dixville Notch takes advantage of a state election law that allows communities to close the polls after all registered voters have cast their ballots. Every four years, Dixville Notch momentarily becomes the center of the presidential campaign because it marks the nation's first direct vote for a candidate.
■ United States
Neanderthals not human
A study comparing the skulls of Neanderthals to early and modern humans has concluded that the ancient group is unlikely to have been the ancestor of people today. The study measured 15 standard landmarks on the face and skull of Neanderthals, early modern humans, current humans as well as other primate species. It found that the differences measured between humans and Neanderthals were significantly greater than those found between subspecies of any single group, suggesting Neanderthals were not a subspecies of humans.
■ United States
Scientists grow GM sperm
For the first time, US and Japanese scientists have genetically modified sperm, grown it in a laboratory dish and used it to produce a transgenic creature. The technique could, in the long term, pay off in human fertility research and suggest new ways to overcome genetic disorders. So far, however, it only works for zebrafish, a laboratory favorite because their embryos are transparent. The US-Japanese team's landmark achievement was to enable immature sperm cells -- spermatogonia -- from male zebrafish to survive long enough in laboratory culture to take aboard foreign genes.
■ Egypt
Building collapse kills five
A 12-story building collapsed in a Cairo suburb on Monday night after a fire broke out in a ground floor appliance store, killing at least five people, including three firefighters and a police officer. About 10 people remained trapped in the rubble, and a member of the rescue team said that rescuers heard from a survivor beneath the debris yesterday morning. The survivor said two others were alive with him, the rescue worker said.
‘TERRORIST ATTACK’: The convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri resulted in the ‘martyrdom of five of our armed forces,’ the Presidential Leadership Council said A blast targeting the convoy of a Saudi Arabian-backed armed group killed five in Yemen’s southern city of Aden and injured the commander of the government-allied unit, officials said on Wednesday. “The treacherous terrorist attack targeting the convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri, commander of the Second Giants Brigade, resulted in the martyrdom of five of our armed forces heroes and the injury of three others,” Yemen’s Saudi Arabia-backed Presidential Leadership Council said in a statement published by Yemeni news agency Saba. A security source told reporters that a car bomb on the side of the road in the Ja’awla area in
‘SHOCK TACTIC’: The dismissal of Yang mirrors past cases such as Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was executed after being accused of plotting to overthrow his nephew North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has fired his vice premier, compared him to a goat and railed against “incompetent” officials, state media reported yesterday, in a rare and very public broadside against apparatchiks at the opening of a critical factory. Vice Premier Yang Sung-ho was sacked “on the spot,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, in a speech in which Kim attacked “irresponsible, rude and incompetent leading officials.” “Please, comrade vice premier, resign by yourself when you can do it on your own before it is too late,” Kim reportedly said. “He is ineligible for an important duty. Put simply, it was
SCAM CLAMPDOWN: About 130 South Korean scam suspects have been sent home since October last year, and 60 more are still waiting for repatriation Dozens of South Koreans allegedly involved in online scams in Cambodia were yesterday returned to South Korea to face investigations in what was the largest group repatriation of Korean criminal suspects from abroad. The 73 South Korean suspects allegedly scammed fellow Koreans out of 48.6 billion won (US$33 million), South Korea said. Upon arrival in South Korea’s Incheon International Airport aboard a chartered plane, the suspects — 65 men and eight women — were sent to police stations. Local TV footage showed the suspects, in handcuffs and wearing masks, being escorted by police officers and boarding buses. They were among about 260 South
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country’s north and east. Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said he had agreed to the deal to avoid a broader war. He made the decision after deadly clashes in the Syrian city of Raqa on Sunday between Kurdish-led forces and local fighters loyal to Damascus, and fighting this month between the Kurds and government forces. The agreement would also see the Kurdish administration and forces integrate into the state after months of stalled negotiations on
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