In Brief

* SUICIDE ATTACK – At least four people, including two attackers, have been killed in the Afghan capital in a suicide car bombing targeting the head of the country’s senate, who escaped unharmed.

* BIRD FLU SPREADS – The H5N1 virus has been detected in a duck on a farm in the north of Cameroon, the government said. Nigeria’s southwestern Ogun state also detected the deadly strain of bird flu, raising fears that the virus was creeping towards the country’s most populous commercial city, Lagos.* MORE CARTOON DEMOS – Some 2 000 Pakistanis protested against controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, torching an effigy of US President George W.Bush and the flags of the United States, Denmark, Norway, Italy and Israel.* BORDER DISPUTE – India is optimistic about settling a decades-old border dispute with China, a top official said as the two sides held talks on the issue for a second day.* TAIWAN PROTESTS – Thousands of supporters of Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang took to the streets to protest the hardline policy on China adopted by the island’s leader President Chen Shui-bian.* WAR FEARS – North Korea lashed out at an agreement which would allow US troops based in South Korea to deploy elsewhere in the region if necessary, saying the move could spark a war.* ARROYO CONCERNS – President Gloria Arroyo said threats to her presidency remained despite a massive crackdown on leftist legislators and military officers accused of a failed plot to topple her government.* FIRST FOR CHILE – Michelle Bachelet was sworn in as Chile’s first woman president, as socially conservative Chile moves boldly out of the shadow of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship.* HAMAS DEAL REJECTED – Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah movement rejected Hamas’s proposed government programme, saying it did not comply with demands regarding ties with Israel.* MILITANTS KILLED – Around 30 foreign militants and their supporters were killed as Pakistani troops using military helicopters destroyed their hideout near the Afghan border in a new operation against pro-Taliban suspects.- Nampa-AFPintNigeria’s southwestern Ogun state also detected the deadly strain of bird flu, raising fears that the virus was creeping towards the country’s most populous commercial city, Lagos.* MORE CARTOON DEMOS – Some 2 000 Pakistanis protested against controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, torching an effigy of US President George W.Bush and the flags of the United States, Denmark, Norway, Italy and Israel.* BORDER DISPUTE – India is optimistic about settling a decades-old border dispute with China, a top official said as the two sides held talks on the issue for a second day.* TAIWAN PROTESTS – Thousands of supporters of Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang took to the streets to protest the hardline policy on China adopted by the island’s leader President Chen Shui-bian.* WAR FEARS – North Korea lashed out at an agreement which would allow US troops based in South Korea to deploy elsewhere in the region if necessary, saying the move could spark a war.* ARROYO CONCERNS – President Gloria Arroyo said threats to her presidency remained despite a massive crackdown on leftist legislators and military officers accused of a failed plot to topple her government. * FIRST FOR CHILE – Michelle Bachelet was sworn in as Chile’s first woman president, as socially conservative Chile moves boldly out of the shadow of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship.* HAMAS DEAL REJECTED – Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah movement rejected Hamas’s proposed government programme, saying it did not comply with demands regarding ties with Israel.* MILITANTS KILLED – Around 30 foreign militants and their supporters were killed as Pakistani troops using military helicopters destroyed their hideout near the Afghan border in a new operation against pro-Taliban suspects.- Nampa-AFPint