SOUTHEAST ASIA

THREE DIE OF AVIAN FLU IN INDONESIA

BANGKOK, Thailand – Indonesia confirmed its first deaths from bird flu Tuesday after a man and his two daughters died in a suburb of Jakarta. Samples sent to Hong Kong for testing proved that the three victims had the H5N1 virus, which has killed more than 50 people in Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia. Experts fear that if the virus, found mainly in chickens and ducks, mutates into a form easily transmissible between people, it could cause a pandemic and kill millions around the world. “It is not yet known how they got infected, but we continue to conduct an investigation on the ground,” Indonesia’s health minister, Siti Fadillah Supari, said. “The results show [the virus is] a conventional one, and not a new virus. Therefore, there is no need to worry about human-to-human transmission.” About 300 people who had contact with the family are being monitored, and farms within a 12-mile radius tested.

– The Daily Telegraph

NORTH AMERICA

22-YEAR SAUDI DIPLOMATIC VETERAN STEPS DOWN

WASHINGTON – Saudi Arabia’s American ambassador, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, is resigning for what the Saudi foreign ministry said yesterday were “private reasons.” Prince Bandar, whose father, Prince Sultan, is the Saudi defense minister, has been in the post for 22 years and is considered the dean of Washington’s diplomatic corps. As ambassador from the world’s largest oil-producing nation, the prince has enjoyed considerable White House access and influence in Washington circles. He worked hard at maintaining strong ties between America and the conservative oil-rich monarchy. Since the September 11, 2001, attacks, however, the Saudis have come under pressure to counter terrorists more aggressively and to block any financial support going to militant groups from within Saudi Arabia. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudis. That, and reports that some of his and his wife’s charitable contributions may have ended up in the hands of two Saudis believed to have close ties to the hijackers, contributed to tensions with Washington. Prince Bandar’s resignation coincides with uncertainty about the country’s ruling hierarchy. King Fahd is seriously ill, and Prince Sultan could move up in any reshuffling of authority. Prince Bandar himself has been rumored to be in line for a top security post in Riyadh. In Riyadh, a foreign ministry official told the Associated Press that Prince Turki al-Faisal, another member of the extensive Saudi royal family, would replace Prince Bandar as ambassador.

– Associated Press

CENTRAL ASIA

AFGHANS CLAIM 180 AT GUANTANAMO ON HUNGER STRIKE

KABUL, Afghanistan – Two Afghans released from Guantanamo Bay claimed yesterday about 180 Afghans at the American detention facility were on a hunger strike to protest alleged mistreatment and to push for freedom. Habir Russol and Moheb Ullah Borekzai, who said they left the prison camp in Cuba on Monday and were flown to Afghanistan before being freed, said they did not participate in the hunger strike. They did not say how they knew others were refusing to eat. A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Lieutenant Commander Flex Plexico, said he was unaware of a hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay but would inquire. Mr. Russol said 180 Afghan prisoners “are not eating or drinking.” He and Mr. Borekzai estimated the men were in the 14th or 15th day of their fast. A Washington-based lawyer for 12 detainees from Kuwait, Neil Koslowe, said several inmates told him during a June 20-24 visit to Guantanamo that there was a “widespread” hunger strike over the amount and quality of their drinking water. The two Afghans released this week said they had been accused of being members of the former Taliban regime, but both said they were innocent. Neither said how long they had been detained.

– Associated Press

CAUCASUS

SUSPECT DETAINED IN BUSH GRENADE THROWING

TBILISI, Georgia – Georgian police yesterday detained a man suspected of throwing a live grenade during a rally at which President Bush spoke in May, the Interior Ministry said. The capture came after a shootout in which one officer was killed and another wounded. The shootout and detention occurred yesterday evening in the village of Vashlisdzhvari, outside the capital, Tbilisi, ministry spokesman Guram Donadze told the Associated Press. The suspect fled into the woods but was later detained, Mr. Donadze said. Rustavi-2 television showed pictures of a dark-haired man it described as the suspect being hustled into a car by police officers. It said he was wounded and identified him as Vladimir Arutyunov, in his late 20s. The American Secret Service is monitoring the investigation by Georgian authorities but “was not directly involved and not present” at the arrest, agency spokesman Eric Zahren said. The White House also is keeping a close eye on the situation, press secretary Scott McClellan said. The police operation came two days after authorities released a photograph of a man suspected of throwing the grenade, which failed to explode, at a podium where Mr. Bush was speaking May 10 before tens of thousands of people. President Saakashvili also was on the podium when Mr. Bush spoke, raising the prospect that the grenade could have been directed at him. Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili also had announced a reward of about $80,000 for information leading to the identification of the man, who was shown with dark hair and dark glasses.

– Associated Press

NORTH AFRICA

RICE SAYS VIOLENCE IN SUDAN MUST STOP

KHARTOUM, Sudan – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says there has been progress in Darfur but the world will not accept mere promises from Sudan’s new government to halt the violence. “The United States is making a difference to help refugees and stop atrocities,” Ms. Rice said before arriving in the Sudanese capital. She said a new unified government in Khartoum has a chance to help the country recover from what she reaffirmed was genocide in ravaged Darfur. “The United States believes that by our accounts it was and is genocide,” Ms. Rice said after a trade conference in Dakar, Senegal. “That has not changed,” she said, since her predecessor, Colin Powell, used that term a year ago. Ms. Rice is traveling to Darfur, a vast province in western Sudan, today after meetings that will include Sudan’s president, Omar el-Bashir. America has blamed his government for recruiting and equipping militiamen to massacre villagers, destroy homes, and cause tens of thousands of deaths from hunger and disease in the region. Ms. Rice planned to visit a Darfur refugee camp that houses more than 70,000 people. She was to meet privately today with female refugees to discuss their claims that they face violence and rape inside and outside the camp.

– Associated Press