In Brief

* BLAST – Jordan said it has arrested a Syrian national it suspects is the mastermind behind a rocket attack last week targeting US warships in the Red Sea port of Aqaba.

* POLIO – Indonesia’s recent polio outbreak which has infected 220 children poses a global health threat and planned vaccination drives are crucial to averting a crisis, the UN’s children agency said. * INQUIRY – A delegation from Brazil pushed on with an inquiry in London into the fatal police shooting of a Brazilian wrongly suspected of being a suicide bomber, as his family demanded a public inquiry.* MILITARY – Chinese destroyers, submarines and fighter planes were coordinating with a Russian missile destroyer and anti-submarine vessels in ongoing war games simulating a naval blockade, state media said.* REJECTED – A Japanese court rejected claims that a notorious contest by imperial troops to behead Chinese soldiers was a journalist’s fabrication, giving critics of Japan’s wartime past a rare legal victory.* PLEDGED – Australia’s mainstream Muslim leaders pledged to defend the country against Islamic terrorism, disowned Osama bin Laden and accepted differences with the government over the Iraq war.* TEST – An opposition bid to oust Philippines President Gloria Arroyo over alleged vote-rigging faces its first crucial test when Congress takes an initial vote on impeachment complaints against her.* RIGHTS – An Indonesian pilot on trial for the fatal arsenic poisoning of leading human rights activist Munir on a Garuda Indonesia flight maintained his innocence, describing prosecution accusations as “absurd”.* ABDUCTED – A Red Cross delegation left Seoul for talks in North Korea on the fate of hundreds of South Koreans allegedly abducted and held by the Stalinist state against their will, officials said.* PROTESTS – Ecuador’s state oil firm produced at half capacity and resuming normal output may be difficult because of damage during six days of protest, said Energy Minister Ivan Rodriguez.- Nampa-AFP* INQUIRY – A delegation from Brazil pushed on with an inquiry in London into the fatal police shooting of a Brazilian wrongly suspected of being a suicide bomber, as his family demanded a public inquiry.* MILITARY – Chinese destroyers, submarines and fighter planes were coordinating with a Russian missile destroyer and anti-submarine vessels in ongoing war games simulating a naval blockade, state media said.* REJECTED – A Japanese court rejected claims that a notorious contest by imperial troops to behead Chinese soldiers was a journalist’s fabrication, giving critics of Japan’s wartime past a rare legal victory.* PLEDGED – Australia’s mainstream Muslim leaders pledged to defend the country against Islamic terrorism, disowned Osama bin Laden and accepted differences with the government over the Iraq war.* TEST – An opposition bid to oust Philippines President Gloria Arroyo over alleged vote-rigging faces its first crucial test when Congress takes an initial vote on impeachment complaints against her.* RIGHTS – An Indonesian pilot on trial for the fatal arsenic poisoning of leading human rights activist Munir on a Garuda Indonesia flight maintained his innocence, describing prosecution accusations as “absurd”.* ABDUCTED – A Red Cross delegation left Seoul for talks in North Korea on the fate of hundreds of South Koreans allegedly abducted and held by the Stalinist state against their will, officials said.* PROTESTS – Ecuador’s state oil firm produced at half capacity and resuming normal output may be difficult because of damage during six days of protest, said Energy Minister Ivan Rodriguez.- Nampa-AFP