SOUTHEAST ASIA

BALI BOMBS ‘WARNING FROM ALLAH,’ JAILED TERROR LEADER SAYS
DENPASAR, Indonesia – The spiritual head of the terror group blamed for the weekend’s suicide bombings in Bali, Jemaah Islamiyah, condemned the attacks yesterday from his prison cell. But Abu Bakar Bashir, who is serving a 30-month sentence for conspiracy linked to the 2002 Bali bombs, also said victims of Saturday’s outrage should “accept this fate from Allah.”

Police said yesterday that nine-volt batteries and detonators had been found at all three bomb sites. No one has been arrested yet, said Indonesia’s deputy national police spokesman, Soenarko Artanto, but 39 witnesses had been interviewed.

– The Daily Telegraph

EAST ASIA

T YPHOON DEATH TOLL CLIMBS TO 50 IN CHINA
BEIJING – Emergency workers found 50 bodies and were searching for dozens of people missing after Typhoon Longwang slammed into southeastern China and unleashed raging floods. Among the missing were 59 members of a paramilitary police brigade swept away in Fujian province Sunday night after the typhoon came ashore with 74 mph winds.

– Associated Press

SOUTH ASIA

SURGEONS TO SEPARATE CONJOINED 10-YEAR-OLD TWINS
NEW DELHI – A pair of conjoined twins in India, 10-year-olds Sabah and Farah Shakeel, learned yesterday that a team of surgeons gave the go-ahead for an operation to separate them. The head of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, Benjamin Carson, has agreed to perform the operation assisted by Indian doctors. The cost of the operation is to be met by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheik Mohammad bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, who was moved to help after hearing about the twins on a visit to India.

– The Daily Telegraph

CENTRAL ASIA

WARLORDS, ACTIVISTS LEAD AFGHANISTAN VOTE COUNT KABUL, Afghanistan – Powerful warlords, a former Taliban commander, and women’s activists were among the front-runners as vote counting drew to a close yesterday in Afghanistan’s first parliamentary elections in more than 30 years. Preliminary results will be announced starting today or tomorrow.

A bomb at an Afghan-Pakistan border crossing yesterday killed three people and wounded 20. In southern Afghanistan, security forces nabbed a district-level Taliban commander and killed five other rebels. Pakistan said it arrested a Taliban spokesman, Mullah Hakim Latifi.

– Associated Press

MIDDLE EAST

PALESTINIAN WOMAN STABS ISRAELI SOLDIER
JERUSALEM – A Palestinian Arab woman brandishing a knife stabbed and wounded an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint outside the West Bank city of Nablus yesterday before other soldiers shot and killed her, the army said. The attack came as Israel beefed up security throughout its towns and cities to prevent attacks during Rosh Hashana.

– Associated Press

WESTERN EUROPE

AMERICANS, GERMAN WIN NOBEL PHYSICS PRIZE
STOCKHOLM, Sweden – American Roy J. Glauber, 80, of Harvard University, took half of this year’s Nobel for showing in the 1960s how the particle nature of light affects its behavior under certain circumstances. American John L. Hall, 71, of the University of Colorado, and German Theodor W. Haensch, 63, of the Ludwig-Maximilian-Universitaet in Munich, won “for their contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique.”

– Associated Press

PUTIN PLEDGES TO SUPPLY RUSSIAN OIL TO EUROPE
LONDON – Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, pledged yesterday to be Europe’s reliable partner as an oil supplier and hailed an agreement on visas as a step toward free travel between his country and the European Union. Russia agreed to readmit people who illegally migrated to the European Union. In turn, the bloc promised to make visa applications to 11 of its 25 nations easier for Russian diplomats, students, and businesspeople, the Foreign Office said.

– Associated Press

SOUTHERN AFRICA

MUGABE BACKS DOWN ON FOOD AID
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe – President Mugabe has agreed to allow the United Nations to begin an emergency feeding program for millions of Zimbabweans. The agreement, under which non-governmental organizations will distribute the food and not civil servants as demanded by Mr. Mugabe, marks a humiliating climb-down for the 81-year-old president, who did not want outside agencies operating within Zimbabwe.

– The Daily Telegraph

NORTH AMERICA

HURRICANE STAN KILLS DOZENS IN CENTRAL AMERICA
VERACRUZ, Mexico – Hurricane Stan came ashore yesterday south of Veracruz. Stan drove storms across Central America, provoking flooding and landslides. At least 41 people were killed in El Salvador. Nine people died in Nicaragua. Four deaths were reported in Honduras and three in Guatemala. In Costa Rica, a 36-year-old woman was killed when her home was buried by a landslide early yesterday. In Mexico’s state of Chiapas, one man was killed.

– Associated Press