A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
Dutch arrest 12 passengers in air alert
AMSTERDAM - Dutch police arrested 12 passengers behaving suspiciously on a US Northwest Airlines aircraft bound for India that was forced to turn back to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport yesterday.
Police detained 12 of the 149 passengers on flight 42 to Mumbai, which turned back to Amsterdam after the crew reported suspicious behaviour, officials said. Two Dutch fighter jets accompanied the aircraft back to Schiphol.
"They will be interrogated in the coming hours by police investigators," a spokesman said. Asked if a terrorist plot could be ruled out, he said: "We don't want to get ahead of ourselves."
Dutch media cited witnesses saying those arrested were exchanging mobile phones, which had made other passengers uneasy. "They were not paying attention to what the flight attendants were saying," a passenger said. - (Reuters)
Palestinian leader shot by Israelis
JENIN - An Israeli army undercover unit shot and seriously wounded a senior Palestinian militant leader in the West Bank town of Jenin yesterday.
Witnesses said Hosam Jaradat, the leader of the Islamic Jihad militant group in the northern West Bank town, was shot by Israeli troops from a car.
Medics said he was taken to hospital and was in a critical condition. An Israeli army spokesman could not confirm troops were involved and said he was checking the report. - (Reuters)
Ejected students seek apology
LONDON - Two Asian students who were removed from an aircraft in Malaga because passengers thought they were terrorists yesterday demanded an apology from the airline for bowing to hysteria.
Sohail Ashraf and his friend, Khurram Zeb, both 22, believe Monarch Airlines was wrong to remove them from flight ZB 613 from Malaga to Manchester, because they had cleared all security checks before boarding the passenger jet. - (Guardian service)