World Scene

PAKISTAN

70 militants die in clashes

DERA ISMAIL KHAN | Clashes between Taliban militants and a pro-government group in northwestern Pakistan’s tribal belt Wednesday left at least 70 fighters dead, two intelligence officials and a militant commander said.

Turkistan Bitani, a tribal warlord allied with the government, said Taliban militants attacked his men in the Jandola area, just outside the stronghold of Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan.

The clash took place one week after a U.S. missile strike in South Waziristan reportedly killed Mehsud.

TAIWAN

1,000 survivors found after storm

CISHAN | Rescuers have found nearly 1,000 people alive in the area around three remote villages devastated by Typhoon Morakot, which pummeled the island over the weekend, Taiwan’s military said Wednesday.

Hundreds more are missing and feared dead in Kaohsiung County, which bore the brunt of the storm, though the official death toll in Taiwan stood at 63 and authorities could only confirm 61 missing.

Rescuers were focusing their efforts on Kaohsiung, believing most of those unaccounted for could be trapped there. But continuing heavy rains were wreaking havoc on their efforts.

INDIA

FBI expert testifies on Mumbai attack

MUMBAI | The gunmen who laid siege to Mumbai carried GPS devices and a satellite phone that shows they traveled from Pakistan to India, an FBI expert testified Wednesday at the trial of the lone surviving suspect.

Police recovered the devices during their investigation of the November attack, which killed 166 people. One Global Positioning System device was found on the fishing boat the 10 gunmen hijacked and used to sail to Mumbai. Another was recovered from Nariman House, a Jewish center, and two more from the Taj Mahal hotel, sites of two gunbattles, according to an investigation report.

The expert appeared anonymously per a court order.

KUWAIT

Militants targeted Kuwait oil refinery

KUWAIT CITY | Detained members of an al Qaeda-linked group planned to attack Kuwait’s Shuaiba oil refinery during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a security official said Wednesday.

Kuwait, the world’s fourth-largest oil exporter, said Tuesday it had foiled a plan by an al Qaeda-linked network to bomb the Arifjan U.S. Army camp, the state security building, and “important facilities,” but gave no details on the other potential targets.

“The group planned to attack Shuaiba during Ramadan,” the security official told Reuters news agency. Ramadan is due to begin around Aug. 22.

FRANCE

Woman barred for wearing ’burqini’

PARIS | A Muslim woman who tried to go swimming in a head-to-toe swimsuit dubbed a “burqini” was banned from her local pool in a Paris suburb.

Officials on Wednesday insisted they banned the woman’s use of the Islam-friendly suit because of France’s unusually strict hygiene standards in pools and not because of hostility to wearing overtly Muslim garb.

Nonetheless, the woman, a 35-year-old convert to Islam identified only as Carole, complained of religious discrimination.