PERSIAN GULF

U.S., IRAQI FORCES FOIL NEW ATTACK ON A POLICE STATION

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Emboldened a day after a successful jailbreak, insurgents laid siege to another prison yesterday. This time, American troops and a special Iraqi unit thwarted the pre-dawn attack south of Baghdad, overwhelming the gunmen and capturing 50 of them, police said. Although the raid failed, the insurgents’ ability to put together such large and well-armed bands of fighters underlined concerns about the ability of Iraqi police and military to take over the fight from American troops.

In the northern town of Beiji, meanwhile, a mortar fell on a government facility that Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Chalabi was visiting yesterday, an aide said. Mr. Chalabi was not harmed and later returned to Baghdad, the aide said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

– Associated Press

WESTERN EUROPE

NEO-NAZI WARNS MUSLIMS WILL FACE ATTACK AT WORLD CUP

The World Cup soccer tournament, which is scheduled to be held this summer in Germany, may pit neo-Nazis against Muslims, a member of an Italian neo-Nazi group said, according to Agence France Presse.

The member of the “ultra” group said in a statement printed by the Italian Repubblica newspaper, “We are united. For the first time we are talking and planning together, with the English, the Germans, the Dutch, the Spanish, everyone with the same objective. At the World Cup there will be a massacre,” AFP reported. The statement singled out Germany’s large Turkish population. “We will all be in Germany and there will be Turks, Algerians, and Tunisians. The Turks, we can’t stand them. In our country there are not many, but in Germany, there are many of those guys there. They are Islamic terrorists.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

EAST ASIA

PUTIN LEAVES HIS BLACK BELT BEHIND FOR SHAOLIN VISIT

Beijing – President Putin of Russia kept his martial arts skills under wraps yesterday on a visit to Shaolin temple, the home of kung fu. The Russian leader – and judo black belt – was perhaps mindful of an encounter on the mat six years ago when he was tossed over the shoulder of a 10-year-old girl on a visit to Japan.

A monk at the monastery in central China where, according to legend, the art was invented, asked the guest to strike him in the stomach to prove the strength of his muscles. But Mr. Putin tapped him lightly on the shoulder, commenting: “I’d better not: suppose he strikes back?”

– The Daily Telegraph