Australia

Trial begins hostel fire

A homeless fruit picker went on trial today in Brisbane on charges of murder and arson in connection with a fire at an Australian hostel that killed 15 backpackers two years ago.

Robert Paul Long, 38, stared straight ahead and pleaded innocent to one charge of arson and two of murder in the June 23, 2000, blaze at the Palace Backpackers Hostel in Childers.

He faces life imprisonment if convicted.

Six backpackers from Britain, four from Australia, two from the Netherlands, one from Ireland and one each from Japan and South Korea were killed in the inferno.

Philippines

U.S. troops land on southern island

Thirty U.S. Special Forces troops arrived on Basilan Island in the southern Philippines to train soldiers battling Muslim extremists.

The start of the training mission opens a new front in the U.S. war against terrorism and marks the largest American deployment in the campaign after Afghanistan. U.S. officials say the Abu Sayyaf rebels have been linked to al-Qaida.

Missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham of Wichita, Kan., and Filipina nurse Deborah Yap have been in Basilan’s jungle-covered mountains since the Abu Sayyaf seized them during a kidnapping spree that began last May.

Romania

U.S citizen arrested for pistol in luggage

A U.S. citizen was arrested Sunday in Romania on suspicion of illegal weapons possession and smuggling after authorities found a pistol in his luggage, officials said.

Sorin Dragoi, 32, of Troy, Mich., was detained Saturday after a 5.6 mm Baretta was discovered in his checked bags during by an X-ray check at the airport in the western Romanian city of Timisoara, police said.

Authorities said the gun was hidden in green foam in the false bottom of a jewelry box in Dragoi’s checked bags. He arrived on the Romanian airline Tarom from New York after a connecting flight from Detroit.

Dragoi did not explain why he brought the weapon, officials said, and it was unclear in which airport he had checked the luggage. He was arrested Sunday and could face up to seven years in prison if convicted.

India

Kashmir attack kills 8

Suspected Islamic militants shot and killed eight Hindus in a midnight attack on a remote mountainous village in troubled Jammu-Kashmir state, police said Sunday.

Another six Hindus were wounded when the assailants barged into two adjacent homes in Narala, a village in Rajouri district, 70 miles northwest of Jammu, the winter capital of Jammu-Kashmir state, police said.

The victims included four women, police in Jammu said.

No one claimed responsibility for the killings, but police blamed them on the Islamic militants groups fighting for Kashmir’s independence from India.

China

Former premier denies role in bugging aircraft

Former Chinese Premier Li Peng disputed press reports Sunday that he was behind the reported bugging of a new U.S.-made jetliner ordered for Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

Asked by reporters during a visit to Macau about his reported involvement, Li said he had no knowledge of the matter.

“I know absolutely nothing about that,” Li said in televised comments.

Citing U.S. intelligence reports, The Washington Times reported Friday that the Chinese president believed Li, head of China’s national legislature, ordered the aircraft bugging to eavesdrop on Jiang’s discussions of financial corruption related to Li’s wife and children.