ISRAEL - BULLDOZER: Israeli authorities say a Palestinian man has rammed a bulldozer into a bus and other vehicles in Jeruslalem, killing at least three people and injuring 40 others before being shot dead by police. Authorities are describing the incident on Jerusalem's main Jaffa road as a terrorist attack. Police say the driver was a Palestinian from east Jerusalem. An Israeli government spokesman says he was an employee for a contractor working on the street where the incident occurred. Police say the man rammed the bulldozer into a bus, causing it to overturn and hit several other cars on a busy street near the city's main bus station. Emergency crews are at the scene treating the injured.
ZIMBABWE: South African President Thabo Mbeki has rejected the European Union's position that it will only accept a Zimbabwean government run by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Mr. Mbeki, who is mediating the political crisis in Zimbabwe, made the comment Tuesday after an African Union Summit in Egypt. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe attended the meeting. The South African leader is pushing for a power-sharing deal between Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and Mr. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change. On Tuesday, the African Union adopted a resolution that calls for a government of national unity in Zimbabwe following the widely condemned re-election of Mr. Mugabe.
SOKOR - PROTESTS: Members of a militant South Korean trade union are staging a brief work
stoppage today to protest the resumption of U.S. beef
imports.
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions says 130-thousand of its
workers will put down their tools for two hours at plants across the
nation. The strike includes 45-thousand employees at the Hyundai Motor
plant in Ulsan, 400 kilometers southeast of the capital of Seoul.
The KCTU says it is staging the stoppage to highlight concerns among
the South Korean people over the threat of mad cow disease, which first
led to a ban on U.S. beef imports in 2003.
MALAYSIA - ANWAR: Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim led a huge rally in the
capital of Kuala Lumpur Tuesday, his first since being hit with new
allegations of sodomy.
Anwar denounced the accusations made by a 23-year-old male aide, saying
the man was being manipulated as part of a conspiracy against him by
the government.
He also told the crowd of seven-thousand supporters that it was time to
kick the ruling National Front coalition out of office. He described
the party as corrupt and inept and pledged to lower the price of fuel
once his opposition coalition takes over control of government.
Anwar was deputy prime minister in 1998 when he was charged with sodomy
and corruption.
THAILAND - CAMBODIA: Thailand has suspended its support for Cambodia's bid to have an
11th-century temple near the Thai border declared a world landmark.
Deputy Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat announced the decision today after a cabinet meeting.
Thailand's Administrative Court on Saturday ordered the government to
suspend a resolution backing Cambodia's application to have the Hindu
temple declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. The court acted at the
request of the opposition People's Alliance for Democracy.
The ancient cliff-top temple Preah Vihear has long been a source of
tensions between the two neighboring countries.
BUSH - EAST ASIA: U.S. President George Bush will stop in South Korea on his way to
Beijing for the Summer Olympics.
The White House said today that
President Bush will visit South Korea on August fifth and sixth before
traveling to China.
U.S. officials have not confirmed whether Mr. Bush will attend the
opening ceremony of the games on August eighth. But he has rejected
calls by some U.S. lawmakers and human rights activists to boycott the
ceremony.
The president was scheduled to visit Seoul during a trip to East Asia
for the Group of Eight summit in Japan. Officials announced last week
that the trip had been postponed.
MONGOLIA ELECTIONS: Mongolia's justice minister says five people were killed Tuesday in a violent protest in the capital Ulaanbaatar over Sunday's parliamentary elections. Hundreds of others were injured Tuesday after demonstrators burned the offices of the ruling party, accusing it of voter fraud. Police responded by firing rubber bullets and tear gas. The violence led President Nambaryn Enkhbayar to declare a four-day state of emergency, beginning after midnight tonight. Under the presidential decree, no public gathering will be allowed in Ulaanbaatar during the emergency period. The full results of the election have yet to be released, but preliminary results show the ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party winning more than 40 of parliament's 76 seats.
INDIA - TRUCKERS: Indian transport union leaders say millions of truck drivers have gone on strike across the country to protest rising fuel prices and fuel taxes. Representatives of the All India Motor Transport Congress say more than four million vehicles are going off the road in an indefinite strike starting today. The union announced the strike after last minute talks with the government failed. More talks are planned. The strike may cause shortages of food and other essential products across the country. Soaring global fuel costs have forced the Indian government to raise fuel prices. The government faces increasing pressure to curb rising fuel and food prices, with inflation running at a 13-year high.
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