Jerusalem: Officers challenge Arafat’s security pick

A large group of Palestinian security officers on Saturday rejected Yasser Arafat’s choice for a new West Bank security chief in the latest challenge to the authority of the Palestinian leader.

Arafat has been under Israeli and American pressure to restructure his overlapping security forces and direct them to stop terror attacks against Israel. This past week, Arafat dismissed three senior security leaders, including Jibril Rajoub, head of Preventive Security in the West Bank.

Arafat appointed the governor of Jenin, Zuheir al-Manasra, to replace Rajoub.

But almost 200 security officers gathered Saturday to object to the appointment of al-Manasra and demand that Rajoub be given another high-ranking political or security post.

Greece: Raid uncovers more of terrorists’ cache

Greek police, assisted by American and British agents, raided an apartment Saturday and found dozens of anti-tank rockets they believe were stolen from the army in the late 1980s by the elusive November 17 terrorist group.

Police now believe they have seized most, if not all, of the terror group’s known arsenal.

It was the second such police raid against the group since Wednesday, when weapons and documents were seized from what police said was the group’s main hideout in downtown Athens.

However, November 17’s leaders, sought for nearly three decades, continue to elude arrest. Police estimate the group has less than a few dozen members.

Malaysia: Baby-smuggling racket broken up by police

Malaysian police have rescued 13 babies and arrested seven suspected members of a baby-smuggling racket, a newspaper reported Saturday.

The Berita Harian newspaper quoted Mohd Yusoff Jaafar, police chief of Sarawak state on Borneo island, as saying the group had been selling babies for the past six years for between $1,000 and $4,700.

He said the group had about 30 members with links to a neighboring country, which he declined to name. Borneo island is divided between Sarawak, the Indonesian province of Kalimantan and the sultanate of Brunei.

The babies have been placed under government care.

India: Flooding situation ‘grim’ for 700,000

Indian soldiers on Saturday battled swirling river waters in the northeastern state of Assam to help authorities rescue nearly 700,000 people hit by devastating floods.

Hundreds of thousands of people were moved by boat to makeshift relief camps in schools and government buildings in safer areas after their homes were submerged by floods, officials said.

“No flood-related deaths have been reported from anywhere in the state yet but the situation is grim,” said Nurzamal Sarkar, Assam’s flood control minister.

Philippines: U.S. Navy Seabees end support mission

At least 80 U.S. Navy Seabees were pulled out of the southern Philippines after finishing their work in support of a six-month counterterrorism training exercise, a Navy officer said Saturday.

Lt. Bill Siemer, an officer with the U.S. Naval Construction Battalion, said the Seabees had been sent back Thursday to Kadena, Japan.

The Seabees were part of a 340-member U.S. military engineering group that arrived in April on Basilan as part of the 1,000-strong U.S. contingent involved in a six-month counterterrorism exercise in the southern Philippines.