¤ Morocco security forces have arrested 17 radical Islamists on suspicion of belonging to a "terrorist structure" linked to al Qaeda, state news agency MAP said yesterday, quoting a police source. "The 17 members involved in this project have been arrested and will face prosecution," the agency said.

¤ Police arrested more than 450 Muslim Brotherhood activists in a crackdown on the Islamist group which poses the strongest challenge to the ruling party in Egyptian legislative elections yesterday. Armed thugs also attacked Brotherhood supporters and blocked them from voting in the second stage of elections which will decide 144 seats in Parliament, election monitoring groups said.

¤ China yesterday reported two new outbreaks of bird flu in which almost 3,700 poultry died and more than 7,000 were culled as provinces hit by the deadly virus tightened preventive measures. About 3,500 geese died at a family farm in a development zone in Shishou city in the central province of Hubei, the official Xinhua news agency said, adding that 3,800 poultry were slaughtered within a radius of three kilometres.

¤ Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Tokyo yesterday for three days of tense diplomacy aimed at putting aside a 60-year territorial row between the Pacific neighbours and opening the door for more trade. His arrival was met with loud protests from Japanese ultra-nationalists, demanding the return of four Pacific islands seized by the Soviet army in the closing days of World War II. The dispute over the tiny wind-swept islands, known as the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kuriles in Russia, has marred ties between Tokyo and Moscow and prevented them from signing a peace treaty.

¤ Lawyers defending Saddam Hussein and his aides are willing to attend next week's trial hearing, despite threats to their lives, if the government provides them with proper protection, the team's leader said yesterday. Khalil Dulaimi announced earlier this month that the defence team was suspending all contacts with the court trying Saddam for crimes against humanity after the killing of two of its lawyers - one shot in Baghdad on November 8, one killed on October 20.

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