NOKOR - US JOURNALISTS: Former U.S. President Bill Clinton is in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, on an apparent mission to negotiate the release of two detained American journalists. Television footage showed Mr. Clinton being greeted at the airport Tuesday by the vice-president of North Korea's parliament and the regime's chief nuclear negotiator, Kim Kye Kwan. A young girl presented Mr. Clinton with a bouquet of flowers. A U.S. official traveling in Africa with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Mr. Clinton's wife, confirmed the former president's trip.
US - IRAN - IRAQ: Iranian state media are confirming Tuesday that Iran has detained three
Americans on charges of entering from Iraq without permission.
Iranian officials did not tell news agencies the identities of the
Americans.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has urged Iran to provide
information about three missing tourists, who are believed to have been
detained Friday in Iran. Clinton told reporters Monday that the U.S. is
working through the
Swiss embassy in Tehran to determine the trio's whereabouts and bring
them home. The United States and Iran do not have diplomatic ties.
AUSTRALIA - TERROR: Australian police have charged a man with conspiracy to commit a terrorist attack on an Australian army base.
The man, identified as 25-year-old Nayaf El Sayed, was formally charged
Tuesday during an appearance in a Melbourne courtroom. He is one of
four Australian citizens detained by police earlier in the day during
raids on 19 locations throughout Melbourne.
Officials say the suspects, who range in age between 22 to 26, are of Somali and Lebanese descent.
CHINA - PLAGUE: Authorities in northwest China say a third person has died from an outbreak of pneumonic plague.
The latest victim is a 64-year-old man who lived in the ethnically
Tibetan town of Ziketan in Qinghai province. Two other men have already
died from the disease, including a 32-year-old herdsman. Nine other
people, many of them relatives of the herdsman, have been hospitalized.
Authorities have sealed off the town of 10,000 residents to prevent a
further spread of the disease.
BURMA - SUU KYI: The American man at the center of the trial of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been hospitalized. Sources say John Yettaw was admitted to Rangoon General Hospital Monday after suffering seizures. His condition is said to be improving. Yettaw is reported to suffer diabetes and other illnesses. Yettaw swam uninvited to Aung San Suu Kyi's lakeside Rangoon home in early May, and stayed there for two days with her permission. The incident led to Aung San Suu Kyi's arrest on charges of violating the terms of her house arrest.
THAILAND - PLANE CRASH: Thai police say one person was killed and several other people injured when a passenger jet slid off an airport runway and slammed into acontrol tower on a Thai resort island. Authorities say a Bangkok Airways jetliner crashed after it landed on the popular tourist island of Koh Samui Tuesday during a rainstorm. The plane was flying from the western town of Krabi. Officials say the jetliner's pilot was killed in the crash. The plane was carrying at least 70 people.
AFGHANISTAN: Afghan officials say at least eight rockets hit the Afghan capital,
Kabul, Tuesday, wounding a man and child.
Officials say at least one of the rockets fell near the U.S. embassy,
while others were reported to have slammed into an area close to the
city's international airport.
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying it
targeted the airport and an Afghan military base.
Meanwhile, in the southern province of Zabul Tuesday, a suicide bomber
blew himself up near an intelligence agency vehicle, killing an
intelligence official and four civilians.
CLINTON - AFRICA: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives in Kenya Tuesday to
start a seven-nation African tour intended to show the region is a
priority for the Obama administration.
Clinton's 11-day trip will be her longest since becoming the top U.S.
diplomat in January. Wednesday she will address a Nairobi forum that
seeks to boost U.S. trade with about 40 African states.
Clinton also will meet Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister
Raila Odinga.
PALESTINIAN POLITICS: The Fatah party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has opened its
first congress in 20 years, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.
Mr. Abbas spoke Tuesday at the start of the three-day convention. He
said Palestinians hope to form a future state that lives alongside
Israel "in peace and security", but added that Palestinian "resistance"
remains an option. Fatah plans to adopt a new political platform at the
meeting.
Some 2,300 delegates will also elect members to the party's two most
important decision-making institutions (the Central Committee and the
Revolutionary Council).
Listen to our World News for details.
