CHENGDU, China – A stockpile of chemicals being used to disinfect the earthquake-shattered town of Leigu ignited yesterday and injured scores of soldiers doing relief work in Beichuan county, adding to a day of problems for urgent recovery efforts.
Meanwhile, Japan has decided not to send its military to deliver relief goods to China after Beijing voiced uneasiness over the mission, Japanese media said today. Japan is considering using private charter planes instead.
Associated Press
Olmert faces more
pressure to resign
JERUSALEM – Pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to step down increased yesterday when Tzipi Livni, his foreign minister and a senior member of his Kadima party, urged preparations for possible early elections.
Until yesterday, Livni had kept silent about the corruption investigation engulfing Olmert.
New York Times News Service
Temblor in Iceland
injures 15 people
REYKJAVIK, Iceland – A 6.2-magnitude earthquake shook southern Iceland yesterday, injuring at least 15 people as it rocked buildings in the capital, touched off landslides and forced evacuations in outlying towns, officials said.
Associated Press
Jewish woman to act
as Bahrain envoy
MANAMA, Bahrain – Bahrain's king has appointed a woman believed to be the Arab world's first Jewish ambassador as the country's envoy to Washington. Lawmaker Houda Nonoo said she was proud to serve her country “first of all as a Bahraini.”
Associated Press
Tropical storm Alma
pummels Nicaragua
MANAGUA, Nicaragua – Tropical Storm Alma slammed into northwest Nicaragua yesterday as the first such storm of the eastern Pacific season.
The storm hit land near the colonial city of Leon, whose mayor, Tránsito Téllez, said houses had been destroyed and power knocked out by the storm. Radio Ya said a 30-year-old man was electrocuted in Trasbayo after a power line snapped under high winds.
Associated Press
Copter crash leaves
11 dead in Panama
PANAMA CITY, Panama – Chile's national police chief, Gen. José Alejandro Bernales, and at least 10 others were killed yesterday when the aging Panamanian government helicopter they were riding in crashed into a three-story building in Panama City.
Associated Press
Man kills 3 at homes,
3 on bus in village
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina – A man shot and killed six people in a village near Tuzla yesterday, gunning down three in their homes and three aboard a bus, police said. Suspect Tomislav Petrovic, 45, was arrested when he stopped to reload his pistol, officials said.
Reuters and Associated Press
