Hong Kong

U.S. will take part in Taiwan war games

The U.S. military will participate in Taiwan’s largest annual war games for the first time, a senior Taiwanese government official said Thursday.

Speaking to parliament in Taipei, Vice Defense Minister Chen Chao-min confirmed a report in Thursday’s editions of the Taiwan daily China Times that a limited number of U.S. Army personnel would take part in the exercise, planned for this spring.

The report indicated the Americans would send a team from the U.S. Pacific Command, whose job would be to evacuate U.S. nationals and other expatriates from Taiwan in case of an invasion from mainland China.

There was no immediate reaction from Beijing, which vigorously opposes any ties between the U.S. and Taiwan militaries. The Beijing government considers Taiwan a rogue province that must eventually be reunited politically with the mainland — by force, if necessary.

Yemen

Officials: Cell members planned more attacks

A pair of Islamic militants — in custody for allegedly killing three American Christian missionaries and a senior leftist Yemeni politician — had plans to attack other foreigners, journalists and Yemeni political leaders, security officials said Thursday.

The murder suspects, Ali al-Jarallah and Abed Abdul Razak Kamel, gave police a list of eight targets during interrogation, the officials said on condition of anonymity.

The two are among 30 people detained in connection with Monday’s killing of three missionaries and the wounding of a fourth at a Baptist hospital in southern Yemen. The roundup also was launched in the slaying of Jarallah Omar, deputy leader of Yemen’s Socialist Party, last week.

Police arrested five suspected militants Thursday. No charges have been filed and it remains unclear how many detainees are believed to be directly linked to alleged plans for future attacks.

Pakistan

Islamic conservatives ask U.S. troops to leave

Hard-line Islamic groups called on the United States to pull its troops out of the region, saying Thursday that a recent clash between U.S. and Pakistani troops along the Afghan-Pakistan border exposed the dangers of the American presence.

Meanwhile, a U.S. military spokeswoman said a Pakistani border guard who apparently triggered the skirmish Sunday by shooting and wounding an American soldier was detained by Pakistani authorities.

The clash inspired a new wave of anti-American rhetoric in conservative northwestern Pakistan, where hard-line politicians already were outraged about Pakistan’s decision after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to join a U.S.-led campaign to overthrow Afghanistan’s Islamic Taliban rulers.

Belgium

Oil tanker hits wreck in English Channel

A tanker loaded with 2 million gallons of oil ignored safety buoys and hourly radio warnings before it slammed into a shipwreck in one of the world’s busiest sea lanes, officials said Thursday.

The 800-foot Vicky lost some fuel after Wednesday’s crash in the English Channel and was listing slightly at anchor in Belgian waters, 18 miles from the North Sea port of Ostend. Damage to the Turkish ship was limited, but an approaching storm could make it worse, provincial governor Paul Breyne said.

The wreck occurred six weeks after an aging, single-hulled tanker broke in two during a storm and sank off the Spanish coast, spilling about 5 million gallons of oil and taking the rest to the floor of the Atlantic.

That spill has blackened many beaches in Spain and is now threatening the coast of southwestern France.