Foreign
Balloonists break world record
GENEVA -- The European balloon trio, frustrated by China in their bid to circle the globe, found solace yesterday by drifting into the record books with a world flight best, set over the Bay of Bengal. They beat the world record for the longest no...
Sri Lankan suicide bomber kills 9
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- A woman suicide bomber killed herself and eight others and wounded more than 15 here yesterday only hours after Prince Charles left Sri Lanka with a plea for peace, the defence ministry said. The woman, believed to be a membe...
Cable car disaster to be probed
ROME -- The flight recorder of the US warplane which sent 20 people in an Italian cable car plunging to their deaths was handed to the Italian authorities yesterday, while the pilot blamed technical malfunctions for the disaster. Italian investig...
Chinese chicks in HK today
HONG KONG -- Most Hong Kong poultry farms were reported yesterday to be too dirty to house the first batches of chickens due from China after a month-long ban aimed at containing a deadly flu virus that claimed six lives. Agriculture and Fisheries...
Clinton, Blair meet over Iraq
WASHINGTON -- The US government finds itself caught between opposite forces over the Gulf crisis -- key foreign countries unalterably oppose strikes against Iraq, while in Washington, the only question seems to be how much force to use. With top o...
EU allowed to visit, probe Algiers conflict
BRUSSELS -- A delegation from the European Parliament will visit Algeria from tomorrow in the latest attempt to cast some light on the conflict that has left tens of thousands dead since the start of a bloody civil war in 1992. The visit of the ni...
Fuel blasts kill 46 Nigerians
LAGOS, Nigeria -- Sixteen more people have died this week in kerosene explosions in Nigeria, bringing to 46 the number of lives lost in such accidents around the country in the past three weeks. At least 30 deaths in kerosene explosions were earli...
No inquest for star
SYDNEY -- Rock superstar Michael Hutchence hanged himself after downing a deadly cocktail of alcohol, cocaine and Prozac because he was depressed about the custody battle between his partner Paula Yates and her former husband Bob Geldof, a coroner ...
NGO to sue Lesotho water project
MASERU -- A Lesotho non-governmental organisation yesterday said it will take legal action to challenge the Lesotho Highlands Water Project's compensation policy and demand adequate compensation for affected communities. The project was inaugurate...
Paraglider falls 70m, lives
SYDNEY -- A New Zealander escaped with only minor injuries after plunging 70 metres in a paragliding accident near Bright in Victoria, news reports said yesterday. Paragliders get airborne by opening their parachutes while running down hills and s...
'Cancer' patient well in 3 days
BOSTON -- An inhabitant of a remote Greek island who had malaria for 71 years was mistakenly treated for cancer before the correct diag- nosis was made, according to the latest New England Journal of Medicine. During examination, a doctor on Karpa...
4000 feared killed in Afghan earthquake
KABUL -- Nearly 4 000 people are feared dead in an earthquake that hit northern Afghanistan, a Red Cross spokesman said yesterday, warning that the toll could rise. But a spokesman for the Afghan opposition that controls the area put the toll at m...
Reagan honoured
WASHINGTON -- President Clinton yesterday signed a bill changing the name of Washington National Airport to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport as the former Republican president celebrated his 87th birthday. The Republican-led Congress rush...
