Australia police say Muslim cleric led attack plot
CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian Muslim cleric who said Osama bin Laden was a "great man" has been named by police as the spiritual leader of a group of 16 men charged on Tuesday with planning a terrorist attack in Australia. Abdul Nacer Benbrika, also known as Abu Bakr, has long been monitored by Australian authorities and grabbed headlines in August after he praised bin Laden, blamed for the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
French youths riot again despite curfew threat
PARIS (Reuters) - Ignoring the government's threat of a curfew, youths rioted for a 12th successive night in France, torching more than 800 vehicles around the country and injuring four police, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday. The nightly protests against racism and unemployment dropped markedly in the greater Paris region, where violence had escalated to the point of shooting at police, but continued unabated in other parts of France, a ministry statement showed.
Man dies of bird flu as global experts meet
HANOI (Reuters) - A Vietnamese man has died of bird flu, the latest case in Asia that underlines the urgency for top health experts drawing up a strategy in Geneva to prevent the virus from spreading to humans around the globe. The World Bank says a flu pandemic lasting a year could cost the global economy up to $800 billion and health experts say it is imperative to control the spread of the H5N1 avian flu virus in animals before it mutates and spreads easily among people.
S.Korean, Japanese leaders to meet despite rift: Roh
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's president announced on Tuesday he would meet Japan's prime minister next week despite a visit by the Japanese leader to a war shrine that angered Seoul. Roh Moo-hyun also told foreign correspondents at the presidential Blue House it was unlikely North Koreans would attend next week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the South Korean port city of Pusan.
