MIDDLE EAST

EXPLOSION ROCKS BEIRUT MALL AND HOTEL

BEIRUT, Lebanon – A powerful explosion late yesterday rocked a shopping center and hotel in the Zalka neighborhood in north Beirut. Heavily armed Lebanese soldiers cordoned off the area and security forces were seen rounding up several suspects.

Officials said the bomb was placed between the hotel and the Moussa shopping center, across the street from the busy Starbucks cafe. The commander of Lebanon’s Civil Defense Corps, Brigadier General Darwish Hobeika, told Lebanese Broadcasting that two people were lightly injured and one Civil Defense rescuer was hurt.

– Associated Press

JORDAN ARRESTS SUSPECT IN ATTACK ON U.S. SHIPS

AMMAN, Jordan – A Syrian linked to an Iraqi-based terrorist group has been arrested as the prime suspect in the Friday rocket attack that barely missed American warships docked in the port of Aqaba, the Jordanian government said yesterday.

The government statement said the suspect, Mohammed Hassan Abdullah al-Sihly, plotted and carried out the attack along with two of his sons – Abdullah and Abdul-Rahman – and an Iraqi, Mohammed Hamid Hussein. The statement said the plotters were part of an Iraq-based terrorist group, which was not named. Mr. al-Sihly, who lives in Amman, had been surveying sites for the Katyusha rocket attack in Aqaba since August 6, the statement said.

– Associated Press

CENTRAL ASIA

U.S., AFGHAN FORCES KILL 40 REBELS

KABUL, Afghanistan – American and Afghan troops killed at least 40 suspected rebels in an offensive targeting militants who ambushed Navy SEAL commandos and shot down a helicopter.

The offensive sought rebels suspected of killing three Navy SEAL commandos and 16 troops aboard a special-forces helicopter that was shot down June 28. The operation ended over the weekend. Before it started, hundreds of Afghan rebels, as well as militants from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Chechnya, were believed to be hiding in the valley and gearing up for attacks on polling stations during September 18 legislative elections.

– Associated Press

EAST ASIA

BIRD FLU STRIKES JAPAN

TOKYO – Authorities have detected another outbreak of bird flu at a poultry farm near Tokyo, the Agriculture Ministry said yesterday. The strain involved is less virulent that the H5N1 variety that has ravaged poultry and killed more than 60 people in Southeast Asia since 2003. Chickens at two other farms were also found to be carrying antibodies for the virus, meaning they were infected in the past but had survived.

Bird flu hit Japan last year for the first time in decades, killing or prompting the extermination of more than 300,000 chickens. An outbreak in June forced the culling of about 94,000 birds at another farm outside Tokyo.

– Associated Press

CARIBBEAN

CUBA UPS NEBRASKA TRADE DEAL TO $30 MILLION

Cuba will purchase $30 million in Nebraska agricultural products in the next year and a half, Governor Dave Heineman said yesterday.

The news came less than a week after Mr. Heineman secured a deal for Nebraska to export $17 million in agricultural goods to the communist nation, starting with the first American shipment of great northern beans to the island since Fidel Castro came to power in 1959. An American embargo against Cuba limits trade with the island, but an exception created in 2000 allows food and agricultural products to be sold on a cash-only basis.

– Associated Press

BLAIR VACATIONING IN BARBADOS

Prime Minister Blair is vacationing on the Caribbean island of Barbados, his Downing Street office said yesterday. Mr. Blair’s office rarely comments publicly on his holiday destination for security reasons. It released a statement confirming Mr. Blair is in Barbados – a former British colony – after he attended a memorial service on the island for veterans of World War II.

– Associated Press

SOUTH AMERICA

BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT FENDS OFF CORRUPTION CHARGES

SAO PAULO, Brazil – Brazil’s president defended his finance minister yesterday, mounting a damage-control effort to head off a growing corruption scandal in South America’s largest economy.

President da Silva used his biweekly radio address to praise Finance Minister Antonio Palocci as an “innocent person” who has been unfairly targeted by accusations he took bribes from a trash hauler while he was a mayor of a city in Sao Paulo state.

Mr. da Silva’s defense of Mr. Palocci came a day after the finance minister rejected the allegations. Their comments helped propel Brazilian financial markets higher yesterday after they plunged on Friday, the day the accusations were made. After Mr. da Silva spoke, stocks on Sao Paulo’s Bovespa index rose more than 2%. Brazil’s currency, the real, rose 1.8% against the dollar after falling nearly 3% Friday.

– Associated Press

SOUTHERN AFRICA

MBEKI: ‘WE WILL SINK OR SWIM TOGETHER’

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – Delivering rare words of censure to his Zimbabwean counterpart, President Mbeki of South Africa warned President Mugabe yesterday that “we sink or swim together” and that economic collapse in Zimbabwe affected the whole region.

The International Monetary Fund will soon decide whether to expel Zimbabwe, a step not taken against any member in 50 years. A team of IMF officials arrived in Harare before a board meeting on September 9 that will decide Zimbabwe’s future. Mr. Mugabe’s regime owes the IMF about $315 million. The country’s inflation rate of 254% is Africa’s highest, and a third of the economy has been wiped out in five years. A slump on such a scale usually occurs only in countries hit by civil war or natural disaster.

Talks between South Africa and Zimbabwe on a proposed rescue package have dragged on for more than a month. Mr. Mbeki has agreed in principle to save Zimbabwe from expulsion from the IMF by paying off some or all of its debts to the organization.

– The Daily Telegraph