Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Digest

20 killed as plane lands, catches fire

By TIMES WIRES
Published March 7, 2007

JAKARTA, INDONESIA

A jetliner carrying more than 140 passengers and crew caught fire Wednesday as it landed on Indonesia's Java island, trapping a number of people inside the burning plane, the airline and witnesses said. Officials reported at least 20 dead and scores injured. The Garuda airlines jet started shaking violently before landing and then overshot the runway, hitting fences and slamming into a rice field before 7 a.m. Some survivors said the fire began at the front the plane before engulfing the aircraft. Some passengers escaped and rescuers battled flames to reach those trapped on the Boeing 737-400, said Capt. Ari Sapari, operations director of national carrier Garuda.

KHARTOUM, SUDAN

3 men on trial for crimes in Darfur

Sudan said Tuesday it will try three Sudanese for crimes committed in Darfur, including a member of the country's security forces who is being sought by an international war crimes court. Details about the charges or alleged crimes were not available, but Sudan's official news agency, SUNA, said the trial would start today in the western Darfur capital of El-Geneina. It said the three men are in custody.

MOSCOW

American doctor, daughter poisoned

An American doctor and her daughter were being treated in a Moscow hospital on Tuesday after being poisoned late last month with thallium, a highly toxic element with a history of use in pesticides and in murder. Both women, who emigrated from the Soviet Union in the 1980s but were in Russia on vacation, are not in danger, medical officials said. Dr. Viktor M. Kaznacheyev, chief physician at the Sklifosovsky Clinic, said the victims, Dr. Marina Kovalevsky, 49, and her daughter, Yana, 26, of Studio City, Calif., were under the supervision of poison specialists.

NAIROBI, KENYA

U.S. Embassy warns of threat

The U.S. Embassy said Tuesday it has been alerted to a possible terrorist attack against this month's world cross-country championships in Kenya. The embassy released a statement saying the threat came from "alleged extremist elements" and that the races "may be the target of an unspecified terrorist attack." The IAAF World Cross Country Championships are scheduled for March 24 in Mombasa. Athletes from 66 countries are expected to compete in the races.

Elsewhere

Seoul, South Korea: North Korea has ordered its diplomats stationed overseas to send their children back to the communist nation in an apparent attempt to prevent the diplomats from defecting, the South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo reported Tuesday.

The Hague, Netherlands: A chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang in the Netherlands is not a criminal organization, Dutch judges ruled Tuesday, rejecting prosecutors' attempts to have the group outlawed.

Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan: Armed tribesmen attacked suspected Uzbek militants in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, triggering a battle in which 15 people were killed, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

Harare, Zimbabwe: The risk of "sudden major violence" is growing as Zimbabwe battles with food shortages, record inflation, repression and corruption, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said Tuesday.

[Last modified March 7, 2007, 01:04:40]