Five RI women die in crash
Five RI women die in crash
MALAYSIA: Five Indonesian workers were killed in southern
Malaysia after a bus was hit by a container that apparently
separated from a speeding truck, police said on Saturday.
The truck driver was negotiating a sharp bend when the
container separated from the vehicle and then slammed into the
bus, which was transporting workers to a nearby factory in Johor
state early Saturday, a police spokesman, speaking on condition
of anonymity, told The Associated Press.
Four of the Indonesian workers died on the spot while the
fifth succumbed to head injuries at a government hospital a few
hours later, the spokesman said. All the victims were women, aged
between 21 and 27 years.
-- AP
;REUTERS;
ANPAi..u..
High-Iraq-Britain-Blair
Blair was warned of Iraq chaos: Paper
JP/2/HIGH
Blair was warned of Iraq chaos: Paper
BRITAIN: Britain's foreign secretary and senior officials warned
Prime Minister Tony Blair a year before invading Iraq that chaos
could follow the toppling of Saddam Hussein, a newspaper said on
Saturday.
The Daily Telegraph said that Foreign Secretary Jack Straw
sent a letter marked "secret and personal" to Blair in March 2002
warning that no one had prepared for what might happen
afterwards.
"There seems to be a larger hole in this (post-war planning)
than anything," the Telegraph quoted Straw as saying.
"No one has satisfactorily answered how there can be any
certainty that the replacement regime will be any better."
The Foreign Office declined to comment directly on the report
but said in a statement that Iraq was moving toward a democratic
future for the first time. -- Reuters
;REUTERS;
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High-N.Ireland-peace-talks
N. Ireland peace talks end
JP/2/HIGH
N. Ireland peace talks end
BRITAIN: Talks aimed at sealing a lasting peace settlement for
Northern Ireland ended without a comprehensive deal on Saturday
despite significant progress on disarming the IRA, Britain and
Ireland said.
After three days of talks, British Prime Minister Tony Blair
and his Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern said they had not reached
a deal to restore home rule in Belfast.
But the two leaders indicated they believed they had secured
agreement in principle from the IRA on fully disarming.
"We believe we can resolve the issues to do with ending
paramilitary activity and putting weapons beyond use," Blair told
a news conference as talks broke up at Leeds Castle.
-- Reuters
;AP;
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High-Russia-Car Bomb
Russian police stop TNT-laden car
JP/2/HIGH
Russian police stop TNT-laden car
RUSSIA: Russian security officials said police stopped a man
driving a car wired with land mines and explosives in downtown
Moscow early Saturday. The man subsequently suffered a fatal
heart attack.
A duty officer at the Federal Security Service said the man
was stopped by Moscow police around 1 a.m. Police questioned him
and found two land mines in the car, along with 200 grams of TNT
under the driver's seat. The mines were connected with wires and
had an antenna attached to them.
The man, who appeared to be intoxicated, told police he had
been paid US$1,000 to park two cars with explosives in them along
a Moscow street frequently used by top government officials, said
the duty officer, who refused to give his name.
-- AP
;AP;
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High-Japan-Volcano
Japanese volcano calms down
JP/2/JAPAN
Japanese volcano calms down
JAPAN: One of Japan's most active volcanoes appears to be quieter
after nearly a week of eruptions, the Meteorological Agency said
on Saturday.
Mount Asama, about 150 kilometers west of Tokyo, has been
rumbling for five straight days and continues to blow gray smoke
and volcanic ash some 1,200 meters into the air, the agency said.
But its eruptions and tremors have become less frequent, with
only about 23 small eruptions and nearly 140 tremors recorded by
gauges on the mountain Saturday afternoon, the agency said.
Until now, the volcanic eruptions had been nearly continuous
and the tremors, too small for people to feel, had been as
frequent as 1,000 a day.
-- AP