French aid worker killed in Chad

Paris

Gunmen opened fire on a convoy Thursday in eastern Chad near the Sudanese border, killing French aid worker Pascal Marlinge, who worked for Save The Children in Britain. Marlinge is the second French citizen killed in the region in two months.

An aide to French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the killers were "likely bandits."

U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes warned the incident was likely to exacerbate already-difficult conditions in Chad for humanitarian workers trying to help refugees from Sudan's Darfur region.

Islamabad, Pakistan

Deal reached over chief justice

Pakistan's fragile coalition government agreed Thursday to reinstate the chief justice and 60 other judges fired by Pervez Musharraf, a move almost certain to spell trouble for the U.S.-backed president, government officials said.

Under a compromise between the parties that's expected to be revealed today, the judges will be restored, but the powers of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry will be reined in and his term limited to two more years. Chaudhry's judicial activism had led to an epic clash with Musharraf, which the president finally ended by firing him and the other judges in November, when he put the country under a six-week period of emergency rule.

Hong Kong

Olympic torch prompts protest

The Olympic torch began its relay through Hong Kong today before a flag-waving crowd that heckled a pro-Tibetan protester and jostled the police officers protecting her.

The protester was taken to a police station to protect her from the crowd. Chan was part of a small group of protesters who held Tibetan flags and signs calling for democracy and human rights in China.

China's recent crackdown on Tibet inspired several of the torch-relay protests in major cities such as Paris, London and San Francisco during its 20-nation overseas tour.

Havana

Cuba announces agricultural reforms

Cuba announced a major shake-up of its troubled farm sector on May Day, shifting control of the island's farms from the Agriculture Ministry to local councils.

The move is part of an effort to increase food production and reduce Cuba's dependence on imports. It came as hundreds of thousands of Cubans marched Thursday in a May Day parade that was shorter than usual, reflecting the businesslike style of new President Raul Castro.

Also

Landslide kills 7: A landslide Thursday killed at least seven workers building a highway through a mountainous region in Kashmir about 100 miles southeast of Srinagar, police said.

Tourists die in crashes: A bus going 100 mph with Canadian and European tourists on board lost control rolled down an incline in Egypt and burst into flames, killing nine people and injuring 30. In Hong Kong, a tour bus lost control going down a hill and flipped over Thursday, killing 18 members of a local Christian group and injuring 44 others.

Seattle Times news services