■ Philippines
Typhoon makes landfall
The most powerful typhoon to hit the country in eight years bore down on the northern island of Luzon yesterday, slamming into coastal regions with high winds and heavy rain, officials and witnesses said. The weather bureau said Typhoon Cimaron was packing winds of about 195kph, with gusts up to 230kph. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who is visiting China, urged residents in northern provinces to stay at home and prepare for the worst.
■ China
Two blasts leave 26 dead
Two accidents in Xinjiang Province on Saturday killed 26 workers, 14 of them in a coal mine blast and 12 in an explosion at an oil storage facility, state media reported yesterday. An explosion trapped the 14 men in a state-run mine 30km outside the provincial capital, Urumqi. Intense heat prevented rescuers from reaching them for more than seven hours, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The other blast killed 12 workers cleaning a crude oil storage tank at a facility belonging to China National Petroleum Co outside the city of Karamay, Xinhua and state television reported.
■ Australia
PM says troops innocent
Prime Minister John Howard and military chiefs yesterday denied allegations that Australian peacekeeping troops were responsible for the deaths of two men during street violence in East Timor. They dismissed the claims made in a report in Dili's main newspaper, Suara Timor-Leste. At least five people have been killed in fighting blamed on rival gangs in East Timor recently, but the newspaper said two men whose bodies were found on Friday were killed by Australian forces.
■ Malaysia
Two arrested in airline scam
Two men have been arrested over a scam which duped hundreds of Malaysians into applying for nonexistent jobs as flight attendants with Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific, a report said yesterday. Some 800 hopefuls responded to an advertisement promising salaries of US$3,000, but suspicions arose when short-listed candidates were asked to fork over 5,500 ringgit (US$1,508) for registration and training. The two men were busted after police, in the guise of job-seekers, arranged for interviews.
■ Nepal
Ceasefire extended
Communist rebels were set to extend their ceasefire yesterday, pledging to continue peace negotiations with the government. Dev Gurung, a member of the Maoist rebel peace talks team, said the group would meet within a day to decide whether the ceasefire would be extended for three more months or indefinitely. The rebels declared a three-month ceasefire in April, and began peace talks with the government. The truce was extended in July by another three months, which ended yesterday.
■ Hong Kong
Hundreds want last ride
Hundreds of people have bought tickets for four rides on the historic Star Ferry that plies across Victoria Harbor to mark the end of the existing Hong Kong Island ferry pier. People started lining up from 5am on Saturday to buy the 1,800 tickets, which cost about US$11 went on sale six-and-a half hours later, the South China Morning Post said. Ticket proceeds will be donated to charity. The special tickets were for four final cross-harbor trips at 12am on Nov. 11 to mark the end of the 49-year old ferry pier, which is being dem-olished as part of a reclama-tion scheme to create new land for rail and road links.
■ Russia
Merger forms new party
Three parties loyal to the Kremlin merged on Saturday to form a new "Justice Russia" party, ahead of legislative elections in December next year. The alliance unites the leftwing Rodina (Fatherland), Jizn (Party of Life) and the Party of Pensioners. The Justice Russia party president, voted by delegates of the three groups at a special congress in Moscow, will be Sergei Mironov, currently head of Jizn and president of the upper house of parliament. Mironov told Russian news agencies the party would be a new "leftwing political force" and a "hard opposition" to the pro-Kremlin United Russia party.
■ Bulgaria
Voters choose president
Voters were deciding yesterday between their pro-European president and a maverick ultranationalist in a runoff election that will determine who will lead the country into the EU. President Georgi Parvanov, a 49-year-old historian, won the first round on Oct. 22 by a wide 64 percent to 21.5 percent margin against Volen Siderov, a 50-year-old journalist, known for his mix of populism and racism. According to a poll conducted by the National Center for Public Opinion Research last week among 1,000 Bulgarians, Parvanov's support is 73 percent, while Siderov trails with 24 percent. Final results are expected today.
■ Congo
Presidential run-off held
The nation voted yesterday in a presidential election run-off intended to end decades of war and pillage. Jules Katasko, 34, couldn't hold back his smile as he walked away after pushing his paper into the bright orange ballot box. "For most of my life we had Mobutu Sese Seko, a dictator. He said `yes,' we all had to do it; he said `no,' we all had to stop it. Now it's us who decide whether its `yes' or 'no,'" he said. About 25 million people are registered to vote in the run-off between President Joseph Kabila and former warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba, top finishers in the July 30 first round. The vote will be accompanied by provincial elections, but results are not expected for three weeks.
■ Cyprus
Turkey EU talks at risk
Turkey could face a suspension of EU entry talks for failing to meet its obligations by the end of this year, but the door to Turkish EU membership should be left open, Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos said yesterday. Papadopoulos told the Cypriot daily Phileleftheros that delaying or conditionally suspending the talks were alternatives to the two "extremes" of allowing Turkey to continue negotiations unhindered, and a complete breakdown in talks. Turkey's progress after a year of accession negotiations will be assessed on Nov. 8.
■ Israel
Livni cancels Qatar trip
Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni had canceled plans to attend a UN meeting in Qatar because of the expected presence of legislators from the Islamist militant group Hamas, officials said yesterday. Israel has low-level ties with Qatar, and Livni's invitation to a UN convention on democracy would have been the first visit by a leading Israeli minister to the Gulf state in a decade. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Livni had never finalized details for the trip but stopped making plans after learning that two legislators from Hamas, the Palestinian ruling party, would be attending the convention.
■ United States
Burger record smashed
Japanese eating champion Takeru Kobayashi won his third straight Krystal hamburger-eating contest in Chattanooga, Tennessee, setting a new world record in the process. Kobayashi ate 97 of the small hamburgers in eight minutes on Saturday. That beat the previous record of 69 burgers, which he set at the first Krystal contest in 2004. Californian Joey Chestnut came in second by eating 91 hamburgers, and Pat Bertoletti of Chicago ate 76 to place third. Kobayashi also holds the title of hot dog-eating champion from Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog-Eating Contest at Coney Island, New York.
■ Canada
Al-Qaeda issues threat
The al-Qaeda network has threatened the nation with terrorist attacks if Ottawa fails to withdraw its troops deployed in Afghanistan, the National Post reported on Saturday. The threat was issued by a member of the al-Qaeda information and strategy committee, Hossam Abdul Raouf, in a document written in July, the Toronto newspaper said. Raouf wrote that the Canadians "will either be forced to withdraw their forces or face an operation similar to New York, Madrid, London." The document was obtained and translated by a US non-profit organization, the SITE Institute, that monitors the Internet for terrorist threats, the paper said.
■ Iraq
Alleged cameraman nabbed
The army captured a man said to have worked as the personal cameraman for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the late leader of the al-Qaeda in the country, the defense ministry said yesterday. Spokesman Mohammed al-Askari told al-Iraqiyah TV that Khalid al-Hayani was captured by Iraqi army troops in Diyala Province. However, he declined to say when al-Hayani was captured or give his nationality. He would only add that video tapes and documents were found in al-Hayani's possession. The Jordanian-born Al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a US airstrike June 7 in Diyala, had appeared in several video tapes posted on militant Internet sites.
■ Brazil
Presidential run-off held
Some 126 million voters were eligible to cast ballots yesterday in a run-off presidential election that looked likely to give a second term to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who held a commanding opinion poll advantage over centrist former Sao Paulo governor Geraldo Alckmin. Two voter intention surveys out on Saturday credited Lula with more than 61 percent support and a lead of 22 points over Alckmin. Voters were also to choose governors in 10 of the 27 states where gubernatorial elections were not decided in the Oct. 1 voting.
■ Nicaragua
Ortega comeback alarms US
Former president Daniel Ortega is a hair's breadth from regaining power, according to new opinion polls. The Sandinista leader is far ahead of rival candidates and could win in the first round of a presidential election next Sunday, a prospect causing consternation in Washington. Two surveys gave the former Marxist revolutionary between 33.8 and 34.4 percent support, just short of the 35 percent needed to avoid a run-off. Ortega, ousted in a 1990 election after his Sandinista government had fought a civil war against US-backed Contra guerrillas, has reinvented himself as a moderate who will bring jobs and growth. US Ambassador Paul Trivelli and senior Bush officials have warned of dire consequences if he wins.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
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