SOUTH AMERICA

PLANE CRASH IN PERU KILLS AT LEAST 37

LIMA, Peru – A Peruvian airliner carrying 100 people crashed yesterday near a jungle town while attempting an emergency landing, killing at least 37 people and injuring about 40, officials said. The Boeing 737 went down near the Pucallpa Municipal Airport after the pilot radioed that he could not land because of strong winds and a torrential downpour, a Pucallpa Airport receptionist, Norma Pasquel, told the Associated Press by phone. The plane circled the airport until trying to make the emergency landing. Officials and radio reports said the plane crashed near a highway, indicating the pilot might have been trying to land on the roadway. A provincial prosecutor, Cesar Arroyo, told Radioprogramas that between 37 to 40 bodies had been pulled from the wreckage of TANS Peru flight 204. “There are still many more bodies to recover but now they have stopped operations because of darkness and the muddy terrain,” he said. “Tomorrow at 7 a.m. we will finish the recovery work.”

– Associated Press

MIDDLE EAST

AL QAEDA IN IRAQ CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR JORDAN BOMBING

AMMAN, Jordan – Iraq’s Al Qaeda wing claimed responsibility yesterday for a rocket attack that Friday barely missed American warships docked in the Jordanian port of Aqaba. The Internet statement was signed Abu Maysara al-Iraqi, the spokesman for Al Qaeda in Iraq. That group is headed by the Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The authenticity of the statement could not be verified.

– Associated Press

WEST AFRICA

ANNAN VISITS HUNGER-STRICKEN NIGER

ZINDER, Niger – Secretary-General Annan toured the hunger stricken desert nation of Niger yesterday, and a French aid group, Medecins Sans Frontieres, criticized the world body for an allegedly slow and “inadequate” response to the crisis.

Mr. Annan was on a two-day trip to focus attention on the combined effects of a devastating drought and locust invasion that have left more than 5 million people facing severe food shortages. He was welcomed at Zinder airport by President Tandja, who has played down the crisis and accused the United Nations, aid groups, and opposition parties of exaggerating his country’s problems for political and economic gain.

– Associated Press

EASTERN EUROPE

KREMLIN PLOTS TO SECURE THIRD TERM FOR PUTIN

MOSCOW – Kremlin loyalists across Russia have begun a concerted campaign to rewrite the country’s constitution to allow President Putin to serve a third term.

The president, in power since 2000, had always been categorical that he would not stand again. But on a recent occasion in Finland, he was coy. “Perhaps I might want to,” he said. “But the country’s constitution doesn’t allow it.”

Kremlin officials were quick to take the hint, drawing up four separate proposals to amend the blocking clauses. The main factor deterring Mr. Putin from changing the constitution is the fear of the likely cool response from the West.

– The Daily Telegraph

WESTERN EUROPE

FOREST FIRES AND FLOODS SWEEP ACROSS EUROPE

PARIS – Thousands of firemen and soldiers battled dozens of wildfires across the drought-hit Iberian Peninsula, while days of torrential rain in central and southeastern Europe caused widespread flooding, landslides, and bridge collapses there.

Aircraft from several European countries helped to fight Portugal’s worst forest fires on record, which have killed at least 14 people. In the Spanish region of Galicia, firemen tackled blazes that have destroyed 45,000 acres of forest this month alone. Police in both Portugal and Spain, where 11 people have been killed by the fires, believe that a significant number have been started by arsonists and have arrested more than 200 suspects.

Meanwhile, millions of people in other parts of Europe were threatened by flooding.

Bulgaria and Romania were the worst hit, but floods have been causing havoc in Austria, Switzerland, and southern Germany. Damage in Bulgaria is estimated at $630 million, threatening the national economy. At least 18 people have died in Romania.

– The Daily Telegraph

REPORT ON BRITISH-BRAZILIAN SHOOTING TO BE READY IN DECEMBER

LONDON – The Independent Police Complaints Commission’s investigation into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, who was shot dead by police in a London tube train, will be completed by Christmas, an inquest hearing was told yesterday.

However, its report will not be published until all proceedings in the case – which could include a criminal prosecution or disciplinary action against the officers involved in the shooting – have been completed.

Brazil’s ambassador to Britain, Manoel Gomes Pereira, said that he did not believe British officials or police had tried to cover up the truth about the shooting.

– The Daily Telegraph

250,000 EASTERN EUROPEANS FLOCK TO BRITAIN

LONDON – Nearly a quarter of a million workers from the eastern European countries that joined the European Union in 2004 have arrived to work in Britain over the past year – more than 15 times the Home Office estimate, official figures showed yesterday.

Britain has proved attractive to nationals from the eight former Soviet-bloc countries, not only because of its buoyant economy but also because other E.U. members exercised an option to restrict access to their labor markets for up to seven years.

By far, the largest number of workers has come from Poland, with 131,000, though as a proportion of the population, Lithuania has supplied most with 34,000, representing 0.8% of its total workforce. Most are young – between 18 and 34 – and 60% are men. Few have brought dependents and hardly any have claimed any benefits.

A separate report from the Department for Work and Pensions suggests that the influx of eastern European workers has had a positive impact on the economy.

– The Daily Telegraph

SCOT GETS PROPER FUNERAL – 700 YEARS LATE

LONDON – There was little of William Wallace to bury after he was strangled by hanging, released near death, drawn, quartered, and beheaded. His head was placed on a pike on London Bridge and his limbs displayed across Scotland to serve as a terrible warning.

Seven hundred years later, a symbolic funeral service was conducted for the Scottish rebel leader in London yesterday, close to his place of execution.

Wallace led the Scots to victory over English forces at Stirling Bridge in 1297. He avoided capture until August 1305, when a Scottish knight loyal to Edward I, Sir John de Menteith, turned Wallace over to English soldiers at Robroyston.

Yesterday, mourners including Alex Salmond, the leader of the Scottish National Party, attended the service at St. Bartholomew’s Church, at which those attending were invited to place tributes, letters, and poems inside the casket, so representing the “spirit of Wallace.”

– The Daily Telegraph

EAST ASIA

HUMBLE VILLAGERS WIN RESPECT

BEIJING – For more than a thousand years, the population of a Chinese village labored under a curse: a surname meaning “Humble,” imposed at the whim of a 10th-century emperor.

Worse, the name – Gou in Mandarin – is pronounced identically to the Chinese character meaning “dog.”

Now, after almost 11 centuries, the authorities have relented. Once again the villagers can be proud of their surname Jing, which means “Respect.”

The dispute arose because the local surname was also part of the name of Emperor Shi Jing-tang (936-42), who did not like to share with peasants. The character “Jing” has two parts, meaning “humble” and “culture.” It thus suited the emperor that by removing “culture,” the village should lose respect and be “humble”.

The woman who led the fight, Gou Feng, said: “It was really embarrassing. My son even couldn’t find a girlfriend because of his name.”

– The Daily Telegraph