IN BRIEF

* VIOLENCE – Car bombers struck in Baghdad and northern Iraq yesterday, killing at least 19 people and wounding more than 40, the latest attacks in a surge of suicide bombings that have killed hundreds since late April.

* RESIGNED – Bolivian President Carlos Mesa resigned after he was forced to flee his office amid angry street protests demanding nationalisation of the nation’s huge natural gas industry, as Congress prepared to meet to decide the future of the government. * TURMOIL – Prime Minister Tony Blair tried to calm the political turmoil in Europe over the EU constitution by saying it was not dead, despite a decision by Britain to halt a planned referendum on the treaty.* NUCLEAR – The United States and North Korea held a rare meeting in New York hoping to kick-start stalled six-nation talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear arms program, US officials said.* DEMO – Ethiopian police sealed off a technical college in Addis Ababa as student protests against last month’s disputed polls spread in defiance of a government ban on demonstrations, witnesses said, a day after a teenager was killed and more than 500 students arrested.* UNREST – Nepal’s security forces hunted for Maoist rebels they claim blew up a bus and killed 36 people, as the Himalayan kingdom reeled from one of the bloodiest ever attacks on civilians.* DIPLOMAT – A Chinese diplomat renewed his bid to defect to Australia after a first asylum request was rejected amid concerns the case could harm burgeoning trade relations with China.* SECURITY – Myanmar’s military government has stepped up security in the capital in a bid to alleviate fears triggered by rumours of impending bomb attacks spread by “destructive elements,” state media reported.* ALERT – Indonesia condemned as a “terror threat” the second security hoax at its embassy in Canberra in a week, amid growing resentment towards its neighbour’s obsession with a young Australian woman jailed in Bali on drugs charges.- Nampa-AFP* TURMOIL – Prime Minister Tony Blair tried to calm the political turmoil in Europe over the EU constitution by saying it was not dead, despite a decision by Britain to halt a planned referendum on the treaty.* NUCLEAR – The United States and North Korea held a rare meeting in New York hoping to kick-start stalled six-nation talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear arms program, US officials said.* DEMO – Ethiopian police sealed off a technical college in Addis Ababa as student protests against last month’s disputed polls spread in defiance of a government ban on demonstrations, witnesses said, a day after a teenager was killed and more than 500 students arrested.* UNREST – Nepal’s security forces hunted for Maoist rebels they claim blew up a bus and killed 36 people, as the Himalayan kingdom reeled from one of the bloodiest ever attacks on civilians.* DIPLOMAT – A Chinese diplomat renewed his bid to defect to Australia after a first asylum request was rejected amid concerns the case could harm burgeoning trade relations with China.* SECURITY – Myanmar’s military government has stepped up security in the capital in a bid to alleviate fears triggered by rumours of impending bomb attacks spread by “destructive elements,” state media reported.* ALERT – Indonesia condemned as a “terror threat” the second security hoax at its embassy in Canberra in a week, amid growing resentment towards its neighbour’s obsession with a young Australian woman jailed in Bali on drugs charges. – Nampa-AFP