Intruder in 'Reuters' bureau arrested
Intruder in 'Reuters' bureau arrested
CHINA: A man who said he had a bomb burst into the Reuters news bureau in Beijing on Wednesday and held a number of journalists hostage for about two hours before releasing them unharmed. He was later arrested.
The intruder, complaining he had been wrongly diagnosed as mentally ill, demanded to be interviewed on camera about official corruption and other grievances. Around two hours after he freed the last of the Reuters staff, armed police arrested him.
The official Xinhua news agency quoted police sources as saying later the man did not have a bomb.
Giving his name as Fang Qinghui, he told the journalists he had timed his protest to coincide with the annual session of China's parliament, the National People's Congress, which runs until March 18. Security in the Chinese capital has been tightened during the session. --Reuters
;AFP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. ATW-India-temple-mosque Digging starts at disputed site JP/11/ATW
Digging starts at disputed site
INDIA: A 100-strong team of laborers supervised by archaeologists began digging on Wednesday in search of clues as to whether a Hindu shrine once existed on a bitterly disputed religious site in Ayodhya, northern India, witnesses said.
The laborers, under direction of a 15-member team from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), used spades to clear grass and shrubs at the site in the town of Ayodhya.
The excavation work on the site -- where Hindu zealots in December 1992 destroyed a 16th century Babri mosque -- follows a court order last week issued in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh to determine whether a Hindu shrine previously existed there.
The destruction of the mosque sparked riots across India that claimed about 2,000 lives. It was also a factor in communal clashes last year in western Gujarat state that killed another 2,000 people, mostly Muslims. --AFP
;REUTERS;KOD; ANPAi..r.. ATW-Afghan-Rights Afghan police accused of abuses JP/11/ATW
Afghan police accused of abuses
AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan urgently needs to revamp its police force to stop officers violating human rights and instead protect the people, human rights group Amnesty International said on Wednesday.
The London-based rights watchdog said it had found evidence the Afghan police used torture during interrogations.
Police have been suspected of severely beating individuals during interrogation and using electric shocks, Amnesty said.
Germany started helping re-build Afghanistan's police force last year but the process is slow, hampered by low salaries and a lack of even basic equipment such as pens and paper.
Afghanistan has about 50,000 policemen but most of them are former fighters with little or no police training and they do not function as a united civilian force. --Reuters
;DPA;KOD; ANPAu..r.. ATW-NewZealand-AirRage NZ pilot fights off dog with axe JP/11/ATW
NZ pilot fights off dog with axe
NEW ZEALAND: An Air New Zealand pilot fought off a crazed dog with an axe after it tried to enter the cockpit soon after take- off on Wednesday, according to a news report.
The dog -- upset when the engine noise aggravated an ear infection -- chewed its way out of its plywood travel crate and headed for the cockpit, the TV3 channel reported.
The incident occurred 10 minutes after the plane took off from the South Island city of Invercargill for Christchurch, and the pilot decided to turn back.
But as soon as the door was opened on landing the dog took off and had to be rounded up by police.
Television New Zealand reported the greyhound cross dog was being sent by its owner for training at a dog school. --DPA