Taiwan's leader has formally announced plans for a Latin America trip next month, a visit he hopes will include a stopover in the United States.Allowing President Chen Shui–bian a brief transit visit in the United States could infuriate China, which considers Taiwan to be a breakaway province and pressures nations not to give the Taiwan's leader privileges enjoyed by other leaders.Today, Eugene Chien, vice secretary general of the president's office, said Chen plans to leave May 21, but the final details of his trip were still being worked out.Accompanied by his wife, Wu Shu–chen, the president will first visit El Salvador. He will also go to Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay and Honduras.Last year, during his first trip abroad as president, Chen made a transit stop in Los Angeles. To avoid tensions with China, he avoided high–profile meetings with US lawmakers.Taiwanese newspapers have reported that Chen wants to transit through the more politically sensitive New York this time. Chen also hopes to stop in Houston, Texas, on his way back from the two–week trip, the reports said.Taiwanese are closely watching if the Bush administration will approve Chen's transit requests. The decision will be a delicate one as Washington weighs its relations with the two rivals, which split amid civil war in 1949.Former Taiwanese President Lee Teng–hui plans to go to the United States to visit his alma mater, Cornell University, on May 2–4. Lee has yet to announce whether he has received a US visa.Lee also wants to travel to Japan, which has not yet approved his visa request. The Japanese government has said it is considering how Lee's visit could affect relations with China.The United States formally recognises Beijing but maintains close trade ties with Taiwan and provides the island with defensive weapons.While in El Salvador, Chen will attend a May 25 summit with leaders of Taiwan's Central American allies, officials said..
A Sri Lankan Airlines Airbus A–330 aircraft made an emergency landing after an engine malfunctioned in midair. A Sri Lankan Airlines Airbus A–330 aircraft made an emergency landing after an engine malfunctioned in midair, officials said.The flight from the Maldives made an emergency landing after one of its two engines had to be shut down, said Manuela Motha, a spokeswoman for SriLankan, the national carrier.None of the 153 passengers on board was hurt, she said.It was the fourth reported emergency since February for the airline, which is run jointly by the Sri Lankan government and Dubai–based Emirates Airlines.On April 11, 145 passengers made an emergency evacuation from an A–330 aircraft bound for Frankfurt, Germany after smoke appeared in the cabin. One injured passenger died in hospital later, while a woman suffered a miscarriage and two others were wounded.An Airbus A–320 bound for Dhaka, Bangladesh, returned to the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, shortly after takeoff on February 21, due to a malfunctioning engine.On February 12, an Airbus A–340 returned to Colombo after being in the air for five–and–a–half hours On board were 310 passengers traveling to London. Airport officials said a wheel had burst on takeoff.There were no injuries in either incident, the airline said.The airline decided in February that it would not ground any of its aircraft..
A senior ally of former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto has suggested that Hashimoto would retain the ruling party's current leaders if he is selected next week to succeed unpopular Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. A senior ally of former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto has suggested that Hashimoto would retain the ruling party's current leaders if he is selected next week to succeed unpopular Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.Hiromu Nonaka, a powerful supporter of Hashimoto, said the current leadership should remain in office under the new administration to provide the continuity needed to carry our economic reforms and other pressing government business.The statement was seen as an attempt to woo the support of party policy chief Shizuka Kamei, who along with Hashimoto is seeking to replace Mori in the elections next Tuesday.Though Kamei is the head of one of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's largest factions, he is seen as a longshot candidate after Hashimoto and former Health Minister Junichiro Koizumi. A fourth candidate is Economic Minister Taro Aso, who is also seen as having little chance of winning.Kamei could, however, end up casting the deciding vote if Hashimoto and Koizumi fail to muster a majority in the first round of voting, forcing a run–off. Many analysts now believe that is likely, and the campaign has over the past week heated up considerably.Whoever wins the vote by the party's members of Parliament and representatives of its local chapters is assured of becoming prime minister because of the Liberal Democrats' strength in Parliament. The winner is expected to be officially named prime minister shortly after the party election.Hashimoto has pledged to implement a "200–day plan," in which he would try to bolster the economy and tackle the nagging problem of bad debt that has hamstrung Japan's banking industry.Koizumi, meanwhile, has focused on his pet project of privatizing Japan's huge postal savings system and stopping a plunge in support for the ruling party.Mori's lack of support, due to a series of scandals and gaffes over the past year, forced him to announce he would step down this month instead of in September, when his term as party president was to end.Each of the 346 LDP lawmakers has one vote in the contest, while the party's 2.4 million other members' ballots are boiled down to 141 votes – three for each of Japan's 47 prefectures (states).Prefectural chapters are now holding elections to determine how to distribute their three votes.. Ten aircraft were forced to circle New Zealand's busiest airport while the only air traffic controller on duty took a rest break. Ten aircraft were forced to circle New Zealand's busiest airport while the only air traffic controller on duty took a rest break, officials said today.Airways Corporation chief operating officer Ashley Smout said there was no danger when planes were unable to land at Auckland airport for about 25 minutes yesterday.The control tower was left unmanned because two controllers were out sick and the one controller on duty had to take a break, officials said.
A replacement controller was stuck in traffic at the time.The staffer on duty "absolutely had to have his break after working three continuous hours," spokeswoman Heather Hayden said."It really is unusual. But we don't like staff working more than three hours without a break. So it was planned, if you like, within the highly extraordinary circumstances," Hayden said.Pilots of circling planes were informed and takeoffs halted as air control was shut down. Air traffic control in Christchurch continued its radar monitoring of the area.Smout said he "was very concerned about what had happened and I am monitoring it on a daily basis and everything possible is being done to ensure this very rare occurrence does not happen again."Had an aircraft needed to make an emergency landing, the pilot would have had no help from the tower."If someone had to land in a big hurry they had all the normal instruments and other approach aids to land with," Smout said."In an absolute dire emergency we would be clearing the zone."Before Auckland staff had left the tower unattended, Smout said they cleared aircraft out of landing and takeoff approaches.. 50–year–old woman accused of being a witch in Papua New Guineaa was killed by villagers with axes, knives and a shotgun and her mutilated body dumped in a river.
A 50–year–old woman accused of being a witch was killed by villagers with axes, knives and a shotgun and her mutilated body dumped in a river, police in Papua New Guinea said.Another suspected witch was seriously injured in the attack, police said.Police commander Simon Kauba said the attacks in Segima village, in Kaintai district, were "gruesome and barbaric."He said the villagers accused the two women of causing the death of a boy.An investigation is underway to charge those responsible, Kauba said.Allegations of sorcery causing death are not uncommon in the remote highland provinces of Papua New Guinea.. Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has warned that a "nationwide rebellion" could erupt if the parliament attempts to impeach him over corruption allegations. Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has warned that a "nationwide rebellion" could erupt if the parliament attempts to impeach him over corruption allegations.Wahid said 400,000 people from the main island of Java and the southern end of Sumatra were ready to come into the capital to protest against moves to oust him.He also suggested that Indonesia's political crisis, which has spooked already depressed financial markets and raised fears of new civil unrest, could soon be over.Wahid's latest remarks, in a speech to a conference of business leaders, analysts and diplomats, has heightened a war of words between the head of state and the legislature."You can see that it is a nationwide rebellion against the ways of the parliament, which is doing it's worst now," Wahid said."My supporters .. are going to Jakarta," he said. "Yesterday the registration came to 400,000 from all over Java and from Lampung, Sumatra.
