In Brief

* BLAST – Suspicions in a probe into the bomb attack that killed five people Saturday in this western Turkish seaside resort have focused on Kurdish separatists believed to have brought in large amounts of explosives from Iraq, officials said.

* KILLED – At least 17 suspected foreign militants were killed in a pre-dawn clash with Pakistani security forces in a remote tribal belt along the border with Afghanistan, military officials said. * STRIKE – Iraq’s oil exports were suspended for 24 hours because of a strike by 15 000 employees of the South Oil Company, a company official said.* ASSASSINATED – A member of the armed wing of Islamist movement Hamas was assassinated by an Israeli sniper in the occupied Gaza Strip, as Israel threatened a large-scale ground offensive unless militants cease rocket attacks.* REBELS – Twenty rebels including five foreigners were killed in a joint operation by Afghan and US-led forces in south-eastern Afghanistan, officials said amid rising militant activity.* HURRICANE – Hurricane Emily drenched the Cayman Islands on her way to landfall on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, where tens of thousands were being evacuated from famed vacation areas.* DEAL – Representatives for the Indonesian government and Aceh rebels tentatively agreed to a peace deal in Helsinki, boosting hopes that their 30-year conflict could soon be over.* UNREST – Indian troops shot dead 21 Islamic rebels in Indian Kashmir, while two soldiers and two civilians were killed as the hunt continued for militants sneaking across the border from Pakistan.* STEMCELLS – South Korea’s Hwang Woo-Suk, who cloned the world’s first human embryos for stem-cell therapy, will open a stem cell bank here in October, a news report said.* DETAINEE – Australia’s longest-serving immigration detainee has been granted a temporary visa after being locked up for seven years, in the latest sign of a shake-up in Canberra’s widely-criticised immigration policy.* FLOODS – China’s summer floods have affected 90 million people so far, the official Xinhua news agency said, while confirming an earlier report that 764 people have been killed with another 191 missing.- Nampa-AFP* STRIKE – Iraq’s oil exports were suspended for 24 hours because of a strike by 15 000 employees of the South Oil Company, a company official said.* ASSASSINATED – A member of the armed wing of Islamist movement Hamas was assassinated by an Israeli sniper in the occupied Gaza Strip, as Israel threatened a large-scale ground offensive unless militants cease rocket attacks.* REBELS – Twenty rebels including five foreigners were killed in a joint operation by Afghan and US-led forces in south-eastern Afghanistan, officials said amid rising militant activity.* HURRICANE – Hurricane Emily drenched the Cayman Islands on her way to landfall on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, where tens of thousands were being evacuated from famed vacation areas. * DEAL – Representatives for the Indonesian government and Aceh rebels tentatively agreed to a peace deal in Helsinki, boosting hopes that their 30-year conflict could soon be over.* UNREST – Indian troops shot dead 21 Islamic rebels in Indian Kashmir, while two soldiers and two civilians were killed as the hunt continued for militants sneaking across the border from Pakistan.* STEMCELLS – South Korea’s Hwang Woo-Suk, who cloned the world’s first human embryos for stem-cell therapy, will open a stem cell bank here in October, a news report said.* DETAINEE – Australia’s longest-serving immigration detainee has been granted a temporary visa after being locked up for seven years, in the latest sign of a shake-up in Canberra’s widely-criticised immigration policy.* FLOODS – China’s summer floods have affected 90 million people so far, the official Xinhua news agency said, while confirming an earlier report that 764 people have been killed with another 191 missing.- Nampa-AFP