Troops killed 60 militants and seized their largest-ever drugs haul, in a just-ended operation in a Taliban stronghold and opium-production centre in southern Afghanistan, the US military said yesterday.
The operation in the southern province of Helmand ended overnight when troops used air strikes to destroy their massive haul of 92 tonnes of drugs, heroin-processing chemicals and bomb-making materials, it said in a statement.
Afghan and US-led coalition troops had moved into the Marja area, about 40 kilometres from the Helmand province capital Lashkar Gah, on Tuesday.
Helmand, where thousands of British troops are based for a Nato-led military force helping Afghanistan, is the main producer of Afghan opium, which accounts for more than 90 per cent of the world's supply.
The vast province is also a stronghold for the Taliban, who were in government between 1996 and 2001 and waging an Al-Qaeda-linked insurgency.
Bangladeshis injured in mosque attack
Unknown assailants tried to burn down a makeshift mosque in Athens yesterday, injuring five Bangladeshi migrants who suffered burns and respiratory problems in the attack.
The attackers broke the windows of a basement flat used as a mosque early yesterday morning and threw gasoline inside before lighting it, a police source said.
Four Bangladeshi men suffered respiratory problems and a fifth was burned, police said. All were initially taken to hospital but later discharged.
The incident followed clashes in Athens between Muslim immigrants and Greek police during protests sparked by allegations that a police officer tore up and stamped on a Koran during an identity check earlier in the week.
Man killed in Australian floods
A man died when his car was swamped by raging floodwaters in northeastern Australia, where tens of thousands of homes have been cut off by wild weather, officials said yesterday.
The 70-year-old's body was found near his submerged vehicle at Coffs Harbour, 540 kilometres north of Sydney, police said, bringing the death toll caused by the floods to two.
Emergency services estimated 21,500 people were isolated by the flooding, which has left two Australian states as disaster zones and forced widespread evacuations.
Freak winds flung a sheet of metal through an office block window killing a 46-year-old man on Wednesday on Queensland's Gold Coast tourist strip, while torrential rains deluged coastal towns. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he would visit affected areas "as appropriate" and offered his condolences to the family of the storm's latest victim.
Arrested for pushing suicide jumper off bridge
A man in southern China has been taken into police custody after pushing a would-be-suicide jumper off a bridge frequented by people threatening to end their lives, state press said yesterday.
Lai Jiansheng was detained by police for pushing a man named Chen off the bridge in Guangzhou city that has been the site of 12 suicide attempts since the beginning of April, the China Daily said.
None of the suicide attempts have been successful, the paper said, but traffic over the bridge has been jammed for hours during each attempt as police sought to talk the people out of ending their lives.
Statue of Liberty has plenty on her mind
She may be stern and resolute on the outside, but a sneak preview of the Statue of Liberty's soon-to-be-reopened head shows the icon is thin-skinned, even trembling as she gazes out over New York.
From July 4, small numbers of tourists will be allowed inside the statue, climbing the extra 168 steps to her seven-rayed crown, which was closed as part of a security clampdown after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
What they'll find are the secrets of a monument that in many ways is the heart of US identity - symbol of freedom, stunning film backdrop, and inspiration for an unending supply of key chains and fridge magnets.
The tour to her head begins from the top of the stone pedestal, currently the highest area open to visitors, before entering directly beneath Lady Liberty's robes and between her size 879 sandals.
Black former astronaut to lead Nasa
US President Barack Obama will name black former astronaut Charles Bolden as Nasa administrator, The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday.
Citing three unnamed congressional sources, the newspaper said that if confirmed by the Senate, the retired Marine Corps general would be the first African American to head the agency.
The announcement will be timed to the landing of the shuttle Atlantis, which remained in orbit on Friday and yesterday because of bad weather but had to return to Earth today.