SOUTH ASIA

TWO PAKISTAN PASSENGER JETS NEARLY COLLIDE

KARACHI, Pakistan – Two jetliners, together carrying more than 300 passengers, came near to colliding over eastern Pakistan until one aircraft abruptly swerved 700 feet, an airline official said. Two people were injured in the maneuver. The pilots of a Pakistan International Airlines flight with 179 passengers, including a government minister, had to suddenly dip their Airbus to avoid a possible crash with an Air Blue jet carrying 144 passengers, a PIA official said. “We were lucky that two senior and seasoned pilots were flying the aircraft,” PIA director of flight operations, Captain Asif Raza, said. “They had just five seconds to get the aircraft away from that air corridor, otherwise there could have been a midair collision.” PIA spokeswoman Samina Pervez said the near-miss happened over Rahimyarkhan in eastern Punjab province, around 440 miles northeast of the southern city of Karachi. The two planes were flying at 37,000 feet. A female crew member on the PIA plane broke her arm and a male passenger injured an arm and an ear, Ms. Pervez said. Among the passengers on board the flight of PIA, Pakistan’s national carrier, was the information minister, Sheik Rashid Ahmed, who played down the incident. “Don’t worry, nothing happened,” he said.

– Associated Press

CARIBBEAN

CUBAN STUDENTS ERECT ANTI-AMERICAN CARTOON EAGLE

Cuban art students and cartoonists painted an American eagle cartoon yesterday on the asphalt of Havana’s coastal highway so cars can drive over it as they pass the American diplomatic mission, the latest salvo in a spat over pro-dissident Christmas decorations hung by the Americans. Police closed off two blocks of the highway as the students drew the colorful cartoon of an aggressive-looking eagle with an enormous “B” on its chest – referring to the American “bloqueo,” or trade sanctions. The government has used the figure in a televised campaign to criticize four decades of sanctions. “This character represents the blockade and will be squashed by all the cars and people who pass by here,” said Ernesto Padron, a well-known cartoonist working on the painting. Dozens of other artists worked on billboards outside the mission. They said they planned to paint a caricature of James Cason, chief of the American Interests Section, as well as images protesting the American-led war in Iraq. American officials declined to comment yesterday on the painting. The row began last week when Cason ignored orders by the Cuban government to remove Christmas decorations including a sign reading “75” – a reference to 75 Cuban dissidents arrested in a crackdown last year. The Cuban government then erected a billboard outside the American mission emblazoned with photographs of American soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners and the word “fascists” overlaid with a “Made in the U.S.A” stamp. “We reject the U.S. operations against Cuba and against Iraq,” Lisandra Ramirez, 18, said as she painted. Earlier in the week, thousands of university students rallied outside American Interests Section to protest the Christmas display.

– Associated Press

EAST ASIA

KOREANS LEAVE CANADIAN EMBASSY IN BEIJING

OTTAWA – A group of North Koreans seeking asylum at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing have been taken to a third country, the Canadian government said yesterday. A spokesman for Canadian Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew confirmed the release of the 44 asylum seekers, who were holed up at the embassy since scaling a fence in September. “Mr. Pettigrew has confirmed the transfer of all 44 people from the Canadian Embassy,” Sebastien Theberge said. “The Canadian Embassy in Beijing is back to normal operations.” He did not say what country they were sent to, but said the government was confident the asylum-seekers’ long-term safety was ensured. Officials said Chinese authorities were helpful in ensuring the transfer. China has allowed hundreds of North Korean asylum-seekers to leave for South Korea. Despite a treaty that obliges Beijing to send them home, it hasn’t done so in cases that become public. The group of men, women, and children used ladders to climb over a spiked fence in what appeared to be the largest recent asylum bid by North Koreans. Such asylum bids have become common in China, with North Koreans who are fleeing repression at home rushing into embassies, schools, and other foreign facilities.

– Associated Press

NORTH AMERICA

MEXICAN CITY BANS INDOOR NUDITY

MEXICO CITY – Alarmed by glimpses of sweaty citizens in the buff, the city council in the southeastern city of Villahermosa has adopted a law banning indoor nudity, officials confirmed yesterday. The regulation, which takes effect on January 1, calls for as much as 36 hours in jail or a fine of $121 for offenders in the Tabasco state capital, 410 miles east of Mexico City. “We are talking about zero tolerance…for a lack of morality,” said city councilwoman Blanca Estela Pulido of the Revolutionary Institutional Party, which governs the state and city. Opposition party councilman Rodrigo Sanchez said in an interview that the measure, part of a larger series of prohibitions, “tramples on the rights of the citizens by taking laughable measures such as contemplating penalties for citizens who walk around nude inside their houses.” “I have no idea how you detect the naked. You’d have to have a big operation to try to bring it under control,” he added. Ms. Pulido said she was confident that citizens who catch a glimpse of offenders would report them to police – though the law also threatens jail for peeping Toms. The city on the southern Gulf of Mexico is noted for its swelteringly hot, humid climate.

– Associated Press

EAST AFRICA

TANZANIAN COURT ACQUITS MAN IN TERROR CASE

A High Court judge yesterday found a Tanzanian businessman innocent of conspiracy to commit murder in the 1998 bombing of the American Embassy in the East African nation. Judge Emilian Mushi ordered the immediate release of Rashid Saleh Hemed, 34, who was charged in connection with the terror attack that killed 12 people and was blamed on Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network. A nearly simultaneous blast at the American Embassy in Nairobi, the capital of neighboring Kenya, killed 219 people, including 12 Americans. “You cannot convict someone with doubtful evidence,” Judge Mushi told the court, after declaring that prosecutors failed to prove beyond doubt that Mr. Hemed was involved in the plot to bomb the embassy. Prosecutors said that they would not appeal the ruling. “I am not surprised with the judgment because I knew I was not guilty right from the beginning,” Mr. Hemed said while walking out of the court. Mr. Hemed, a car parts dealer, was the first person charged in connection with the August 7, 1998, attacks in Tanzania and Kenya. His trial began in 2000. In 2001, four men were convicted in New York of conspiracy to carry out the bombings and sentenced to life in prison. In Kenya, three men are on trial for allegedly taking part in a series of Al Qaeda attacks, including the American Embassy bombing. Mr. Hemed was initially charged with 11 counts of murder in September 1998, but the charges were later reduced to conspiracy to commit murder. One person died from injuries after the charges were brought. Mr. Hemed pleaded innocent to the charges.

– Associated Press

EASTERN EUROPE

RUSSIA SUCCESSFULLY TEST-FIRES MISSILE

MOSCOW – Russia successfully test-fired a heavy intercontinental ballistic missile yesterday in a launch intended to extend the lifetime of aging Soviet-built weapons. It was the first time that an RS-20V Voevoda, which NATO identifies as the SS-18 Satan, had been fired from its combat positions in Russia since the 1991 Soviet collapse. Previously, such missiles had been launched from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan. The missile, which was launched from a silo in the Orenburg region in the southern Ural Mountains, hit a designated target on a testing ground on the Far East Kamchatka Peninsula, more than 3,750 miles away. “The main result of the launch was the confirmation of the technical characteristics of the missiles, which have no analogues in the world,” Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces said in a statement. It added that the missile had been on combat duty for 16 years before the launch. The Russian strategic forces have conducted regular test launches of Soviet built ballistic missiles to check their readiness. The post-Soviet funding shortage has left the military struggling to extend the lifetime of Soviet-built missiles, since the government lacks the funds to quickly replace them with new weapons.

– Associated Press