IN BRIEF

* RATIFIED – Lawmakers in new EU member state Latvia ratified the European Union’s constitution, giving the text a sorely-needed boost after its rejection by French and Dutch voters.

* KILLED – Prominent anti-Syrian journalist Samir Kassir was killed in a car bomb explosion in a residential sector of mostly Christian eastern Beirut. * SECURITY – Foreign ministers from Russia, China and India met and said the three countries will strive to synchronise policies on security and economic issues with the understood aim of countering US strategic dominance in the Asia-Pacific and India sub-continental regions.* AMNESTY – The head of Amnesty International hit back at US outrage over the group labelling Guantanamo Bay a “gulag” and challenged Washington to open the military-run detention centre to outside inspections.* TORRENT – Torrential rains and mountain torrents have left at least 36 people dead and 42 missing in central China, local officials said as rescuers rushed to evacuate people and ferry in supplies.* SUICIDE – Afghan police drew a security cordon around the southern city of Kandahar as the death toll from the previous day’s suicide bombing at a mosque rose to 21.* SECRET – A secret manuscript that Beijing is trying to stop from being published outlines purged leader Zhao Ziyang’s plea for the Communist Party to relinquish its absolute power and for China to follow the path of democracy.* PLOT – The leader of a US-based Cambodian rebel group was arrested for allegedly orchestrating a failed but bloody 2000 attempted coup against Prime Minister Hun Sen, prosecutors said.- Nampa-AFP* SECURITY – Foreign ministers from Russia, China and India met and said the three countries will strive to synchronise policies on security and economic issues with the understood aim of countering US strategic dominance in the Asia-Pacific and India sub-continental regions.* AMNESTY – The head of Amnesty International hit back at US outrage over the group labelling Guantanamo Bay a “gulag” and challenged Washington to open the military-run detention centre to outside inspections.* TORRENT – Torrential rains and mountain torrents have left at least 36 people dead and 42 missing in central China, local officials said as rescuers rushed to evacuate people and ferry in supplies.* SUICIDE – Afghan police drew a security cordon around the southern city of Kandahar as the death toll from the previous day’s suicide bombing at a mosque rose to 21.* SECRET – A secret manuscript that Beijing is trying to stop from being published outlines purged leader Zhao Ziyang’s plea for the Communist Party to relinquish its absolute power and for China to follow the path of democracy.* PLOT – The leader of a US-based Cambodian rebel group was arrested for allegedly orchestrating a failed but bloody 2000 attempted coup against Prime Minister Hun Sen, prosecutors said.- Nampa-AFP