World Scene

QATAR

U.S. B-1 bomber explodes on landing

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A U.S. B-1 bomber caught fire after landing at an air base in Qatar yesterday but the crew evacuated and is safe, the U.S. Air Force said.

The incident occurred at 9:10 pm local time as the plane was taxiing at Al-Udeid Air Base, 22 miles south of the capital, Doha.

A Defense official earlier said the bomber hit something while taxiing, causing an explosion. Four crew members were aboard.

CHINA

8 reported dead in Tibetan violence

BEIJING — New violence has broken out in a volatile Tibetan region of western China, leaving eight people dead, an overseas Tibet activist group said yesterday. China’s official Xinhua News Agency said a government official was seriously injured.

The London-based Free Tibet Campaign said police opened fire on hundreds of Buddhist monks and lay people who had marched on local government offices to demand the release of two monks detained for possessing photographs of the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled Buddhist leader.

AFGHANISTAN

Canadian soldier killed in blast

KANDAHAR — A roadside bomb killed a Canadian soldier in southern Afghanistan yesterday, while a suicide attack in the same region left three policemen and a civilian dead, officials said.

Canadian Pvt. Terry John Street, 24, of Hull, Quebec, died as the explosive detonated near his vehicle, said Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche, the commander of Canadian forces in Afghanistan.

In the suicide attack, a bomber blew himself up near a police vehicle on the outskirts of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, said provincial police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal.

BRITAIN

Queen’s husband admitted to hospital

LONDON — Queen Elizabeth II’s husband, Prince Philip, was hospitalized with a chest infection and is undergoing a series of tests, Buckingham Palace said yesterday.

Philip, 86, suffered from a bad cold that worsened in recent days, palace officials said. Doctors at London’s King Edward VII hospital were trying to determine the cause of the infection.

Philip was strong enough to walk into the hospital without assistance and was able to read and answer letters from his bed, a spokeswoman said. He traveled to the hospital by private car, not ambulance, another Buckingham Palace spokesman said.

NORTH KOREA

Nuke negotiators to meet in Singapore

TOKYO — The top U.S. and North Korean nuclear negotiators will meet Monday in Singapore to advance stalled six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear program, Kyodo News agency quoted a senior U.S. government official as saying yesterday.

U.S. chief negotiator Christopher Hill will hold the talks with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye-gwan.

The six-party talks have been deadlocked since North Korea missed an end of 2007 deadline to declare its nuclear programs, as it was required to do under a deal with the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.

From wire dispatches and staff reports