Today's other stories in brief
Jet explodes in airport but 165 escape
OKINAWA - They made it out just in the nick of time. The 157 passengers and eight crew members had barely finished sliding down the emergency chutes of the smoking China Airlines jet yesterday when it suddenly exploded, and flames engulfed the centre of the aircraft.
For the scores of holidaymakers and others who had flown on the Boeing 737-800 from the Taiwanese capital, Taipei, to Naha on the Japanese island of Okinawa, it was a moment of sheer terror - even if there were no serious injuries.
Screams erupted from the tarmac as passengers raced to get away from the burning aircraft, and emergency personnel moved forward to begin putting out the flames.
A figure thought to be the pilot hung on to the cockpit window for several seconds before dropping to the tarmac and sprinting away from the exploding aircraft. - (PA)
Nine drown during religious event
MEXICO CITY - Nine people, including three children, drowned and six people were missing after swimming in a river during a religious camping weekend in western Mexico, Mexican rescue authorities said.
The members of a Christian church group were swimming in a popular bathing spot along the Cuixtla river in Mexico's Jalisco state and were dragged under by the current, a spokesman for Mexico's civil protection unit in Jalisco said. - (Reuters)
Tax concern halted EU fuel funding
JERUSALEM - The European Union stopped paying for fuel shipments to the Gaza Strip's main power plant over concerns that Hamas would tax electricity to fund its government in the territory, EU officials said yesterday.
One of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's first decrees after Hamas seized control of Gaza in June was to exempt its 1.5 million residents from paying taxes, a move designed to keep Hamas from collecting any of the local revenues.
The Gaza power plant shut down operations at midday on Sunday, causing blackouts. - (Reuters)
Israeli missile kills six Hamas men
GAZA - An Israeli missile killed six Hamas gunmen and wounded one other in the Gaza Strip yesterday, Palestinian hospital staff said.
The Israeli army confirmed that it had fired at the vehicle carrying the militants. "There was a strike on a car carrying militants who today fired rockets into Israel and we identified hitting it," an army spokeswoman said.
Hamas denied the dead gunmen had fired rockets. - (Reuters)
Man half-eaten in zoo's bear cage
BELGRADE - A 23-year-old Serb was found dead and half-eaten in the bear cage of Belgrade Zoo at the weekend during the annual beer festival.
The man was found naked, with his clothes lying intact inside the cage. Two adult bears, Masha and Misha, had dragged the body to their feeding corner and reacted angrily when keepers tried to recover it.
"There's a good chance he was drunk or drugged. Only an idiot would jump into the bear cage," zoo director Vuk Bojovic said. - (Reuters)
11 injured shooting Tom Cruise film
BERLIN - Eleven people were injured when they fell off the back of a truck during the shooting of Tom Cruise's latest film, Valkyrie, in Berlin, police said yesterday.
The 11 fell from the truck when a side panel burst open as it drove around a corner in central Berlin on Sunday, police said. One of them was seriously hurt and had to remain in hospital. - (Reuters)