CARIBBEAN

DEMONSTRATORS THREATEN TO BEHEAD PREMIER

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Supporters of ousted President Aristide wielded machetes and threatened to cut off the heads of Haitian police and the interim prime minister during demonstrations yesterday, part of a recent campaign that has been dubbed “Operation Baghdad.”

No violence was reported in yesterday’s demonstrations in the capital Port-au-Prince. But at least 14 people were killed in clashes Thursday and Friday, including three police officers who were shot to death and then beheaded.

Tensions erupted into violence in the capital last week as the country was still reeling from the chaotic aftermath of Tropical Storm Jeanne. The death toll from the storm’s devastating floods and mudslides rose yesterday to 1,870 with another 884 reported missing and most presumed dead. About 150 of Mr. Aristide’s supporters demonstrated yesterday and some directed their anger at Haitian police who fired in the air to try to disperse a gathering. Using torched cars, protesters blocked roads leading into the downtown slum of Bel Air.

– Associated Press

PERSIAN GULF

SAUDI REFORMISTS REFUSE TO PROCEED WITH HEARING

Three jailed Saudi democratic-reform advocates, whose arrests raised tensions between Washington and Riyadh, refused to participate in their court hearing yesterday after a judge closed it to the public. An open trial would be remarkable in a nation where trials are normally conducted privately. Some 200 people were allowed to attend the defendants’ first hearing, on August 9, and reformists had hoped that was part of a slow, limited government trend toward more openness. Their second hearing scheduled for August 23 was postponed after 400 supporters of the defendants, in a rare show of public dissent, demonstrated for access and then interrupted the hearing with shouts for reforms once allowed into court. Issam Basrawi, a lawyer for the defendants, said one of the presiding judges promised lawyers that yesterday’s session would be open, too, but less than 10 relatives were allowed into the courtroom.

– Associated Press

WESTERN EUROPE

FLIGHT DIVERTED AFTER BOMB THREAT

LONDON – A Singapore Airlines passenger jet from Frankfurt to New York was diverted to Manchester Airport in northern England yesterday after a bomb threat that police said may have been a hoax. A second flight from Frankfurt, a United Airlines plane en route to Chicago, diverted to Heathrow Airport in England on Sunday for mechanical reasons and had been due to resume its journey yesterday but was delayed for unspecified security reasons, the airline said. Singapore Airlines flight SQ26 with 292 passengers and 19 crew landed safely at 6 a.m. without a military escort, Greater Manchester Police said. It was the fourth commercial service diverted as a security precaution in Europe in the last nine days. The pilot declared a “full emergency” mid-flight, a spokesman for Manchester Airport said. The Boeing 747-400 was bound for New York’s JFK airport.

– Associated Press

ANNE FRANK CITIZENSHIP DEBATE HITS DUTCH PARLIAMENT

A TV channel has touched off a debate at the highest levels by proposing Anne Frank as possibly the greatest Dutch person in history – even though the Jewish teenager, who became a symbol of courage during the Nazi occupation, never had Dutch citizenship.

Members of Parliament campaigned over the weekend to grant the young author of the renowned wartime diary posthumous citizenship. But the immigration minister, Rita Verdonk, said there is no provision in the law to do so.

The Dutch press reported yesterday that a majority of the 150 members of Parliament’s lawmaking Second Chamber from across the political spectrum support granting her citizenship, despite the legal barriers. The question of posthumous citizenship surfaced when the Dutch TV channel KRO listed German-born Anne Frank as one of 202 candidates to become history’s greatest Dutchman in a popular vote of viewers. But some historians and even the keepers of Anne Frank’s legacy agree making her a Dutch citizen nearly 60 years after her death would not alter her place in history. It could also be an unintended denigration of the tens of thousands of refugees who, like Anne’s family, fled the Nazi regime but would not receive the same recognition.

– Associated Press

SOUTHEAST ASIA

BAN ON HUNTING ENDANGERED BLACK RHINO LIFTED

BANGKOK – A decades old ban on hunting the critically endangered black rhinoceros was lifted yesterday at an international convention in Bangkok. Namibia and South Africa were each granted the right to issue five export permits a year to trophy hunters, despite opposition from conservation groups. Hunting organizations at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species meeting said wealthy sportsmen could pay as much as $250,000 for the privilege of killing one of the animals.

John Jackson, the chairman of Conservation Force, an international coalition of hunting groups, said the total of 10 black rhinos a year was “not biologically significant.” He estimated that as long as the American government allowed hunters to import their trophies, American sportsmen would pay substantially to “make it part of their life experiences.”

– The Daily Telegraph

INDONESIA’S PRESIDENT-ELECT IN LIMBO

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Outgoing President Megawati tearfully conceded defeat today in last month’s elections, clearing the way for the winner to begin forming a new government.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had been waiting for Ms. Megawati to concede before claiming victory, respecting the decorum of Indonesia’s fledgling democracy, despite his landslide victory in the September 20 polls. The American-educated retired army general canceled plans for an acceptance speech yesterday after the results were official released, as Ms. Megawati remained holed up in her residence. But Ms. Megawati acknowledged her defeat today in a typically indirect speech to thousands of soldiers at a parade ground in the capital. “Whoever has been chosen, we must graciously accept it, because the victory is a victory for all of us,” she said to applause from those present, including Mr. Yudhoyono.

– Associated Press