World news in brief

Whale ban activist arrested by Japan

Japan Coast guards arrested an anti-whaling activist from New Zealand yesterday for illegally boarding a whaling ship last month in the latest incident in the ongoing battle over Japanese whaling.

Peter Bethune, a member of the US-based Sea Shepherd activist group, is accused of jumping aboard the whaling vessel in Antarctic seas, where Japan was conducting its annual whale hunt.

High rainfall causes massive floods

Kazakhstan Heavy rain and melting snow have caused severe floods across a region of Kazakhstan neighbouring China, flooding villages and claiming an as yet unknown number of lives, emergency officials said yesterday.

Southern Kazakhstan was affected by unusually intense snowfalls this winter and fast-rising temperatures are now causing massive flooding and mudslides across the region.

The Emergency Services Ministry said that a dam in the eastern Almaty region ruptured on Thursday, pouring water into a nearby village and affecting 3,000 residents.

Israeli military charges its own

Gaza The Israeli military anounced on Thursday that it has indicted two soldiers who forced a Palestinian boy to open bags suspected of being booby-trapped with explosives during last year's bloody offensive.

It was only the second time the Israeli Defence Force has filed criminal charges against its own operatives for conduct in the three-week-long operation which killed over 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians.

The soldiers will be tried in a military court for "engaging in unauthorised conduct," according to a statement.

US shooting kills Iraqi reporter

Iraq An Iraqi police official has reported that US troops opened fire on a car in western Baghdad on Wednesday, killing an Iraqi journalist and her husband.

Morgue officials confirmed the deaths in the Tobchi neighbourhood and said that the bodies of Aseel al-Obeidi and her husband were riddled with bullets.

The Iraqi journalists' union denounced the killings and demanded police investigate and publicise the circumstances of the shooting.

Putin set to sign huge arms deal

Russia Prime Minister Vladimir Putin arrived in India yesterday where he is expected to sign multibillion-dollar defence and nuclear co-operation deals.

Indian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Vishnu Prakash said that both sides would also "review the entire range of bilateral ties and exchange views on how to nurture and further expand our strategic partnership."

Russia is expected to upgrade the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier for India and deliver carrier-based MiG fighter jets.

Regulator warns Google over laws

China The country's top internet regulator has warned US corporation Google that it must obey national laws or "pay the consequences."

In January Google bosses announced that they planned to stop complying with Chinese internet censorship rules.

Speaking on the sidelines of China's annual legislature, industry and Information Technology minister Li Yizhong said: "If there is information that harms stability or the people, of course we will have to block it," adding: "If you want to do something that disobeys Chinese law and regulations, you will have to pay the consequences."

Hamas releases British journalist

Palestine Gaza's Hamas administration released a British journalist on Thursday who had been held for a month amid allegations that he endangered the territory's security.

Paul Martin said that he was arrested because of his work as a journalist and called his release, with the help of the British and South African governments, a "great victory for the freedom of the media."

Mahmoud Zahar, a Hamas leader, said that Mr Martin was suspected of serious security offences and would not be able to return to Gaza.

Teenager killed by Iraq border mine

Iraq A 17-year-old shepherd from Turkey was killed and two others were injured in a landmine blast on Thursday on the Iraqi side of the border.

Officials said that the three teenage shepherds from Sirnak province crossed the border while grazing their animals, setting off the landmine.

The two injured shepherds - aged 13 and 17 - are being treated in a hospital in Sirnak.