Macedonia
Fighting spreads near Kosovo border
An ethnic Albanian rebellion in Macedonia intensified Sunday, with police saying government troops were battling hundreds of guerrillas in two border villages.
Three Macedonian army soldiers were killed, including two whose vehicle hit a land mine near the village of Tanusevci, a stronghold of the insurgents 20 miles north of the capital, Skopje. The third died nearby, hit by sniper fire.
Despite international and Macedonian efforts to contain the violence, the fighting has spread to the village of Malina, just east of Tanusevci, and to nearby Mount Kodra Pura, according to a police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity. About 200 rebels were battling government troops, he said.
"It's a real war," said Hamdi Hasani, mayor of the Kosovo border village of Debele, within shouting distance of Tanusevci. Heavy weapons were being used, he said, with some rounds falling inside Kosovo.
Thailand
Bomb blast traced to P.M.'s plane seat
The blast that gutted a Thai Airways airplane minutes before Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was to board came from beneath his assigned seat, his security adviser said Sunday. Thaksin said it could have been an inside job to assassinate him.
The Boeing 737-400 blew up and burned on the tarmac Friday, 35 minutes before its scheduled departure from the domestic terminal at Bangkok International Airport.
One crew member preparing for the 70-minute flight to Chiang Mai was killed and seven airline workers were injured. None of the 149 listed passengers, including Thaksin, had boarded.
Investigators sifting through the plane's charred and broken wreckage have not revealed the cause of the explosion.
But Prasarn Wongwai, a former police general who is Thaksin's security adviser, said "the source of the explosion came from where the prime minister was supposed to be seated." He told the Ruam Duay Chuay Kan radio station he suspected a bomb "of white phosphorus type."
Australia
Former soldier plans skydive from space
A former Australian army commando plans to jump off the edge of outer space and plummet almost 25 miles to Earth in the highest skydive ever.
Rodd Millner, 37, will make the 40,000-meter jump by riding in a hot air balloon to the edge of space, the Australian Associated Press reported Sunday. He will wear an astronaut's suit to protect his body from extreme pressures, it said.
The plan calls for Millner to fall at up to 1,100 mph during a seven-minute fall before opening a parachute. The fall would make Millner the first human to break the sound barrier unaided, the report said.
"It's basically extreme science to see how far we can push it this is going to change the face of a lot of things ... including emergency procedures for people exploring space," he was quoted as saying by AAP.
Millner claims that scientists have helped him on the project, but it is not known if the human body is capable of enduring such a descent.
Barbados
Johnnie Cochran negotiates hotel deal
Famed defense lawyer Johnnie Cochran Jr. is in Bridgetown to negotiate with the government over his planned investment in the local hotel industry.
Cochran arrived Saturday on the island with his investment partner, Robert Johnson, founder of the Black Entertainment Television channel.
Cochran and Johnson told reporters they are negotiating to buy parts or all of the Gems of Barbados chain, five small luxury hotels around the Caribbean island. They already have investments in Antigua, Curacao and Aruba.
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