World Digest
Four poorest nations fighting bird flu to get U.N. aid

	VINCENT YU / AP Workers scrub the "bird garden," known for its pet-bird shops, yesterday in Hong Kong. The cleanup comes after the government suspended pet-bird imports as precaution against the bird-flu epidemic.
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The Food and Agriculture Organization said it would hand out a total of $1.6 million to Cambodia, Laos, Pakistan and Vietnam.

"More international assistance is needed to enable poorer countries to better deal with the crisis," FAO Asia-Pacific chief He Changchui said.

One main problem that has emerged, most publicly in Indonesia, is being able to pay poor farmers enough to persuade them to slaughter flocks on which many depend for their livelihoods.

The Indonesian government said initially it could not afford to pay compensation, but it reversed its position under international pressure. Most experts advocate mass slaughter as the best means of halting the epidemic.

A 7-year-old boy became the fourth person to die from the disease in Thailand. Vietnam has reported nine fatalities.

An outbreak in China's poultry stocks, meanwhile, appeared to widen with newly confirmed or suspected cases reported.

U.S. disputes Afghan report on civilian raid-related deaths

KABUL, Afghanistan — The U.S. commander in Afghanistan yesterday rejected as insufficient an Afghan government report claiming 10 civilians were killed in a U.S. raid on suspected Taliban leaders last month.

The military said Saturday it was studying a report by Afghan investigators into a Jan. 17 airstrike in Uruzgan province, a hotbed of militant activity.

President Hamid Karzai had said Interior Ministry officials who traveled to the region, 250 miles southwest of Kabul, found that 10 civilians had died, including women and children.

But Lt. Gen. David Barno, speaking to reporters after inaugurating a new U.S. military headquarters in Kabul, said he still believed his forces had killed only five militants.

The attack came less than two months after 15 Afghan children were killed in two air raids in eastern Afghanistan. Commanders vowed at the time to review operations to avoid any repeat.

Mayor in South Korea, accused of bribery, hangs self in jail

SEOUL, South Korea — The mayor of South Korea's second-largest city, who was on trial for allegedly taking $85,000 in bribes, hanged himself in his jail cell, a prison official said today.

Busan Mayor Ahn Sang-young, 64, was found early today hanging from a rope made with undershirts, the official at Busan Detention House said.

Ahn had been arrested in October on charges of taking $85,500 in bribes from a construction company in return for favors. He was in the prison's medical ward with digestive problems.

Strong quake shakes up Taiwan's eastern coast

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A strong earthquake rocked Taiwan's eastern coast yesterday, but no damage or injuries were immediately reported.

The magnitude-6 quake hit in the Pacific Ocean, about 47 miles southeast of the coastal city of Hualien.

Temblors frequently rattle Taiwan, but most are minor and cause little or no damage.

French push ban on Islamic head scarves in schools

PARIS — French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin urged lawmakers yesterday to ban Islamic head scarves and other conspicuous religious apparel in public schools, saying France must set clear limits in the face of growing militancy.

The measure also bans Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses from public schools, but French authorities have made clear it is aimed at Muslim head coverings. There is growing concern that Muslims are not integrating into French society — a concern magnified by fears of a rise in Muslim fundamentalism.

India to spend $5.5 billion to enhance its military

NEW DELHI — India announced yesterday a $5.5 billion defense-modernization fund to help the world's fourth-largest military buy airborne warning and control systems (AWACs), combat planes and an old aircraft carrier.

India's Hindu nationalist-led coalition government has made several arms deals.

Last month, New Delhi finalized a $1.5 billion deal to buy an old Russian aircraft carrier, Admiral Gorshkov, aimed at ensuring the navy was a key player in the Indian Ocean.

Israel, which has emerged as New Delhi's second-biggest arms supplier after Russia, has signed a deal with India to mount Phalcon radar systems on a Russian-made aircraft that would enable the Indian air force to pry deep into Pakistan airspace.

Also...

A car bomb exploded yesterday in a parking lot near the central market in Vladikavkaz, a southern Russian city near the war-ravaged Chechen Republic. At least two people were killed and several wounded. ... Mudslides and floods have forced more than 40,000 Brazilians to leave their homes and killed 84 since heavy rains hit the South American nation in late December, civil-defense authorities said yesterday. ... Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, 80, won a battle yesterday to extend his leadership of the opposition Labor Party until December 2005, handily beating a rival who wanted party primaries this summer. ... Muslims began leaving Islamic holy sites in Saudi Arabia yesterday, the final day of the hajj pilgrimage, marred this year by a deadly stampede. Most pilgrims will start heading home today.

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