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JAKARTA: The Indonesian navy
scoured the Bay of Jakarta on Friday for at least 17 people still
missing after a blaze on a ferry that killed 16 passengers. More
than 200 passengers and crew leapt into the water after the blaze
raged out of control early Thursday as the vessel was sailing out of
the Indonesian capital’s port. --AFP
BEIJING: A
six-year-old girl was mauled to death by a performing tiger as she
was being photographed with the animal on Thursday at the Kunming
Zoo in Yunnan province. The animal lunged at the girl’s head when
a flashbulb went off. She was rushed to hospital, where she was
pronounced dead with a crushed skull. Her mother was also bitten on
the arm. The male tiger had been performing at the zoo since May
2005. Visitors paid 15 yuan (around $2) for a photo with the animal.--AFP
COLOMBO, Sri
Lanka: The government here and rebel Tamil Tigers mark the fifth
anniversary of their truce on Friday just a day after the guerrilla
group said the deal was all but dead and that their “freedom
struggle” would go on. The pact, brokered by Norway in 2002, was
meant to end a deadly conflict that has claimed more than 60,000
lives on this island nation in the past 35 years. But the deal has
collapsed amid an ongoing cycle of violence, with the government
blaming the rebels and the Tigers, who have been fighting for an
independent Tamil homeland, saying Colombo is responsible for the
bloodshed. Nearly 4,000 people have been killed since the ceasefire
was agreed.--AFP
WASHINGTON:
Six world powers will meet Monday in London to discuss Iran’s
nuclear program following Tehran’s refusal to meet UN demands to
suspend uranium enrichment. The countries are the US, Russia, China,
Britain, France and Germany. The watchdog International Atomic
Energy Agency concluded in a report Thursday that Iran has not
suspended its enrichment-related activities as demanded by the UN
Security Council.--AFP
WASHINGTON: A
man who murdered a married couple during a robbery was put to death
on Thursday in Huntsville, Texas, marking the fifth execution in the
state this year and the sixth for the entire country. Newton
Anderson, 30, was convicted of shooting to death Franck Cobb and
then strangling his wife, Bertha, both in their 60s, while
attempting to rob them in their home in March 1999.--AFP
HAVANA: Cuba
has told two foreign journalists, one from the US and one from
Mexico, that they can no longer report from the country. Chicago
Tribune correspondent Gary Marx, based in Havana since 2002, was
told Wednesday that his stories were too “negative” and that his
press credentials will not be renewed, the Tribune said. Meanwhile,
El Universal reported Thursday that its Havana reporter Cesar
Gonzalez Calero was also told that his visa to report from Cuba was
not being renewed.--AFP
SAN JOSE,
Costa Rica: A dozen elderly American tourists killed a man who tried
to rob them at gunpoint in a tour bus here. The driver of the bus
told the media that a man armed with a gun boarded the vehicle with
two accomplices, but was promptly disarmed by the elderly
passengers, while his companions fled. The 20-year-old attacker was
killed in the incident by a broken neck.--AFP
WARSAW,
Poland: A man left completely paralyzed by an accident 14 years ago
has demanded the right to die, an unprecedented request in this
deeply Catholic country. Janusz Swiataj, 32, wrote to judicial
authorities to grant his wish. He said he was turning to them
because he had run out of options. However, he has little or no
chance of getting his wish. Like abortion, euthanasia is illegal in
Poland.--AFP
LONDON: Pop
singer Michael Jackson could be about to convert to Islam, his
brother told a British Muslim newspaper on Thursday. Jermaine
Jackson said he thought it was “probable” that his eccentric
brother, known for hits including “Thriller” and “Bad,”
would follow his lead by converting to the faith. Jermaine converted
to Islam in 1989.--AFP
DOHA, Qatar:
Britain’s Prince Charles inspected British forces at a military
base in Qatar on Thursday on the first day of a visit to the Gulf
state as part of a regional tour. The Prince of Wales, who is
touring four Gulf Arab states with his wife Camilla, visited the
troops at the Al-Udeid airbase, one of two US military bases in
Qatar. Prince Charles and Camilla will also visit Bahrain and the
United Arab Emirates during the tour, billed in London as an effort
to “reinforce Britain’s friendship with key allies.” --AFP
FREETOWN,
Sierra Leone: This country’s former deputy defense minister Sam
Hinga Norman, on trial for war crimes at a UN-backed tribunal, died
in Senegal on Thursday after surgery. He was 67. Norman had pleaded
not guilty to eight counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity
stemming from acts allegedly carried out by the Civil Defense Force
militias under his command during the country’s decade-long civil
war, which ended in 2001. He was accused of murder, acts of
terrorism, enlisting child soldiers and failing to prevent the loss
of life during the conflict between progovernment Kamajor militias
and RUF rebels, which claimed 200,000 lives.--AFP
PARIS: Trials
showing that male circumcision more than halves the risk of HIV
infection are published in The Lancet on Friday, giving the seal of
approval to calls for circumcision to be cautiously launched as an
AIDS prevention strategy. The trials, conducted in Kenya and Uganda
and earlier in South Africa, found that men who were uncircumcised
were twice as likely to catch the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
compared with circumcised counterparts. The data were so dramatic
that the trials in Kenya and Uganda were halted ahead of schedule,
for it would have been ethically wrong to continue them.
--AFP
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