■ Afghanistan
Renegade takes remote city
A renegade commander has taken control of most of a remote Afghan provincial capital after clashes in which 18 people were killed or wounded and the governor was forced to flee, combatants said yesterday. General Zaman, police chief of the province of Ghor, said Commander Abdul Salaam Khan's forces captured most of Chaghcharan overnight. Khan told reporters by satellite phone that the city was under his control. "The situation is calm. There is no trouble here," he said.
■ New Zealand
PM reigns as `least kissable'
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has been voted the last woman in the country people would want to kiss, while All Blacks flyhalf Carlos Spencer was rated the most kissable man, according to a poll released yesterday. Clark topped the "least kissable" woman category with 62 percent of the vote in the nationwide survey conducted by breath-freshener company Listerine. Respondents were asked to choose from a list of 24 local personalities, with international model Rachel Hunter earning the title of most kissable woman with only 14 percent of the vote. Clark found support from the country's youth, with 61 percent of the 18 to 24 age group wanting to kiss her.
■ Brunei
Flogging laws criticized
Pakistan and India have expressed concern about Brunei's harsh new laws that allow flogging of foreign workers who overstay their visas. Indians and Pakistanis -- who make up many of the migrant workers in this oil-rich sultanate -- were the first to be sentenced under the new rules that took effect last week. Pakistani High Commissioner Badr-ud-Deen said he and other diplomats had asked Brunei to extend an amnesty that let overstayers turn themselves in without punishment, to no avail.
■ Malaysia
Suspect botches escape
A prisoner who tried to escape custody by climbing out of a hospital window fell and ended up back in the hospital with a broken leg, police said. The suspected armed robber was initially taken to the University Malaya Medical Center in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday after convincing guards he was having breathing difficulties. The prisoner attacked a police guard before fleeing to the fifth floor. He climbed out of a window and jumped to a ledge two floors below. He landed briefly on the third-floor shelf, but then fell, plummeting to the ground. The man was readmitted to the hospital with a broken leg and facial injuries.
■ Russia
Soldiers, rebels killed
An official in Chechnya's Moscow-backed government said Thursday that four Russian servicemen were killed in the latest fighting in the region, and a Russian military official said 10 rebels died in a clash with federal troops. Two of the servicemen were killed and two others wounded when a military truck hit a land mine outside the capital, Grozny, the government official said on condition of anonymity. One of the servicemen died in a clash with rebels near the town of Shali, and another was killed in a rebel attack on a Russian outpost, according to the official. He said Russian positions had come under fire 11 times in the previous 24 hours.
■ France
Terror suspect in custody
An Algerian suspected of belonging to al-Qaeda and of having links with extremists in France and Germany was remanded in custody in Paris on Thursday evening, only hours after being extradited from Syria, a source close to the case said. Algerian Said Arif, 38, appeared before France's top anti-terrorist judge, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, and was placed under investigation for "criminal conspiracy in connection with a terrorist enterprise," the source said. He was then remanded in custody. "This is one of the most important [suspects] that we've obtained for several years," another source close to the investigation said. French anti-terrorist experts said Arif, who also uses the names Sliman Chabani and Abderrahman, held a position of "certain importance" in al-Qaeda.
■ Iran
UN group `deplores' Iran
The UN nuclear watchdog's governing board adopted a resolution on Friday "deploring" Iran's lack of total cooperation and urged it to improve its behavior, a diplomat on the board said. The International Atomic Energy Agency draft, co-sponsored by France, Britain and Germany, does not threaten to report Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions in the event of further poor cooperation. The US accuses Iran of using its nuclear program as a front to build a bomb. Iran denies this, insisting it only wants to produce electricity.
■ United Kingdom
Reality show probed
British police and the UK TV broadcaster Channel 4 were considering Thursday the implications of an alcohol-fueled brawl on the reality TV show Big Brother. The brawl followed a confrontation orchestrated by the program's producers. Questions were being asked about the producers' ability to maintain a safe environment for the contestants after security guards were forced to enter the Big Brother "house" when violence erupted.
■ United Kingdom
TV crusaders robbed
The producers of a reality TV show that aims to catch thieves red-handed were left red-faced on Thursday after their own equipment was stolen. Swag was devised by Guy Ritchie, Madonna's director husband, to trap petty criminals in the act and deliver surprise retribution. But producers missed a trick when thieves crept into the show's London edit suite on Wednesday night and carried off camera equipment worth tens of thousands of dollars. "It would have been better if the Swag camera crew had been around and on the case," series editor Syeda Irtizaali said.
■ United States
Pledge on visa backlog
The Bush administration pledged on Thursday to eliminate long application processing delays for millions of immigrants seeking work visas, legal residency or citizenship in the US. The head of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Eduardo Aguirre, told Congress his bureau has a plan to erase the application backlog by September 2006. Steps include reallocating resources and modernizing outdated computer systems. The bureau has about 6.1 million applications pending for US citizenship, green cards and various visas. Of those, 3.7 million are considered backlogged, meaning they've been pending for more than six months, Aguirre said.
■ United States
Senate boosts army numbers
Defying the Bush administration, the US Senate voted overwhelmingly to add 20,000 troops to an army stretched thin by the war in Iraq and other commitments around the world. The 93 to 4 vote on Thursday in the Republican-led Senate -- following a similar action by the House -- reflected the anxieties lawmakers have been hearing from families of service personnel whose tours in Iraq keep getting extended and whose return to civilian life is repeatedly postponed. Republican Senator John McCain said the lack of troops at the end of major combat in Iraq cost the military an opportunity to stop the violence that continues today.
■ United States
Four die in decorative pool
With their hotel pool closed for cleaning and the Texas heat reaching nearly 32?C, Myron Dukes took his two children and another child to check out the fountains and pools at the park across the street. Within minutes, all four drowned in a swirling, decorative pool posted with no-swimming signs. Authorities said powerful suction apparently pulled the victims to the bottom of the 2.7m-deep pool at the Fort Worth Water Gardens.
■ Iraq
War-hardened look to Viagra
Sales of the male impotence drug Viagra are booming in occupied Iraq, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday. The report quoted local pharmacists in Baghdad as saying that the perpetual violence and anxiety had increased sexual dysfunction in the war-torn city, even as the availability of satellite TV had given regular Iraqis access to titillating material never available in the days of former president Saddam Hussein. "People are depressed, so they need Viagra and other drugs to give them interest in sex," said Talid Abdul-Amir Shebany, a pharmacist who tracks the changing ailments of Iraqis.
■ SAudi Arabia
Muslim appeals for release
A Saudi colleague of a US national held hostage by Islamist militants in Saudi Arabia has called for his release on the basis of a traditional Muslim tribal form of protection, Dubai-based news station Al-Arabiya reported yesterday. Saad al-Momen's message ran on the station's Web site as the deadline neared for Paul Johnson's threatened execution. If Johnson's kidnappers are good Muslims, they will free him after hearing this message, Momen said to the captors of the 49-year-old aeronautics engineer. Paul, who works with me, is very interested in Islam and I offered him many books on the subject and a translation of the Koran. I offered ijara to this man, he said, referring to the traditional offering of security and protection.
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
A Soviet-era spacecraft plunged to Earth on Saturday, more than a half-century after its failed launch to Venus. Its uncontrolled entry was confirmed by both the Russian Space Agency and EU Space Surveillance and Tracking. The Russians indicated it came down over the Indian Ocean, but some experts were not so sure of the precise location. The European Space Agency’s space debris office also tracked the spacecraft’s doom after it failed to appear over a German radar station. It was not immediately known how much, if any, of the half-tonne spacecraft survived the fiery descent from orbit. Experts said ahead of time
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