Thailand

Two bombs explode, killing one, wounding 13

Two bombs exploded in predominantly Muslim southern Thailand on Saturday, killing a man and wounding at least 13 people in attacks blamed on insurgents.

The attacks were the latest in a recent upswing of violence blamed on suspected Islamic separatists in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat — the only Muslim-majority provinces in this largely Buddhist country. More than 500 people have been killed in attacks in the area since January.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra urged the region’s governors to meet with members of Parliament, religious leaders and local residents in an effort to halt the violence — but he acknowledged that “it’s not that easy to stop.”

Belgium

Group: 101 journalists killed so far this year

More than 100 journalists have been killed since January, making 2004 the most deadly year for journalists in a decade, an international media rights group said.

The slayings of three journalists in recent days in Ivory Coast, Nicaragua and the Philippines pushed this year’s total to 101, the International Federation of Journalists said Friday.

“2004 is turning out to be one of the most bloody years on record,” said Aidan White, the federation’s general secretary. “The crisis of news safety has reached an intolerable level and must be addressed urgently.”

The organization recorded 83 killings of media staff in 2003 and 70 in 2002.

India

Rampaging elephants stomp through villages

Wild elephant herds have been terrorizing India’s remote northeast, killing people, flattening houses and even guzzling local rice beer supplies, prompting villagers to retaliate against the pachyderms with firecrackers and bonfires.

With an estimated 5,000 elephants, Assam state has the largest concentration of wild Asiatic elephants in India, said M.C. Malakar, Assam’s Chief Wildlife Warden.

The big herds, faced with shrinking forest cover and human encroachment of their corridors, venture into human settlements looking for food and attack those who try to stop them.

The wild elephants have stampeded across the region, stomping down houses and feasting on standing crops, Pradyut Bordoloi, Assam state’s forest minister, said Saturday.

Ivory Coast

Foreigners still crowd airport for flights out

Frightened Westerners — many of them longtime residents of this former African economic success story — piled into buses, boats and planes Saturday during a French-run evacuation, despite government promises to protect the expatriates from a surge of anti-foreigner violence.

As calm returned to the war-divided country, African leaders redoubled efforts to resolve a crisis they say threatens regional stability.

France, the former colonial ruler, and other countries have flown out nearly 4,000 foreigners since Wednesday, embassy officials said, in what they expect will be one of the largest evacuations from Africa in post-independence times.

Tokyo

Chinese envoy urges calm after protests

Japan and China should try to resolve their differences calmly, China’s ambassador to Japan said Saturday, a day after Tokyo filed a protest with Beijing over the intrusion of a Chinese nuclear submarine.

The incident has strained relations between two of Asia’s biggest powers.

Japanese officials protested to the Chinese Embassy on Friday after Tokyo determined that the submarine, which had entered territorial waters days earlier, belonged to China.

China has yet to respond, but on Saturday, Chinese Ambassador Wang Yi urged the countries to work to improve relations.

“China and Japan have some problems, but we want both countries to respect each other and calmly find a solution,” Wang said, avoiding specific reference to the incursion.

Namibia

Election signals end of era as leader steps down

After a 23-year war of independence and three terms as president, Sam Nujoma of Namibia is ready to step down, bringing an end to an era marked by fiery rhetoric as well as pragmatism and stability.

The 75-year-old Nujoma is the father of his southwest African nation and the only leader its 1.8 million people have ever known. But after presidential elections Monday and Tuesday, Nujoma will prepare to hand over power, presumably to Hifikepunye Pohamba, his hand-picked successor and comrade in arms.

The election, which neutral observers expect to be free and fair, underlines how southern Africa — except for deeply troubled Zimbabwe — has emerged from turmoil and settled into democratic routines.

Canada

Mother, children killed in house fire mourned

About 1,000 mourners filled a church Saturday for a funeral service for a mother and her seven children killed when fire tore through their century-old rural home in St. Catharines, Ontario.

Hushed congregants watched a seven-minute memorial video of the victims, their smiling, sometimes impish faces looking out over the row of eight white coffins offset by bouquets of flowers that stretched the length of the podium.

Last Monday, 39-year-old Monika Woerlen and her children, ranging from just 19 months to 11 years old, were asphyxiated in the blaze that left firefighters, who had rushed to the scene in vain, sobbing.

Her husband, Marc, was away on business at the time.

Panama

Rumsfeld discusses security with president

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met Saturday with Panamanian President Martin Torrijos and expressed support for regional security agreements aimed at reducing drug trafficking, terrorism and other threats in Latin America and the Caribbean.

“This collaboration will bolster the security of the Western Hemisphere,” Rumsfeld said.

Rumsfeld and other officials frequently describe gaps in security in the region, opened by less-than-perfect cooperation between dozens of countries and security agencies. Arguing those holes are exploited by criminals, the U.S. government has promoted joint naval exercises and other diplomatic efforts.

U.S. Virgin Islands

5,500 sign petition for St. Croix to break away

At least 5,500 residents of St. Croix, the largest of the U.S. Virgin Islands, have signed a petition asking Congress to make the island its own U.S. territory.

Supporters say seceding from the rest of the Virgin Islands would bring the island more U.S. funds. St. Croix is poorer than the two other main islands of St. Thomas and St. John.

Volunteers, who are still collecting signatures, plan to give the petition to Congress in the near future, said Rena Brodhurst, president of the Committee for St. Croix’s Self-Government. But some admit they are not optimistic about its chances.