World News

Bangladesh's military says 72 officers are still missing after a two-day mutiny by border guards in which at least 76 people were killed. An army spokesman said yesterday that at least 33 officers survived the carnage but 72 were still unaccounted for and demanded a full investigation. The uprising, which ended Thursday, was reportedly triggered by longstanding anger over pay and benefits. Authorities have found scores of bodies buried in shallow mass graves in the Dhaka headquarters of the Bangladesh Rifles border force. (AP)

Investigators are examining turbulence as one of the possible causes of the Turkish Airlines crash that killed nine people and injured over 100 near Amsterdam's main airport, a spokesman said yesterday. The plane, carrying 135 passengers and crew from Istanbul, crashed one mile short of the runway. A Turkish pilots' group claimed turbulence from a large plane landing at Schiphol airport shortly before the doomed flight may have caused the crash. (AP)

A Tibetan Buddhist monk in western China set himself on fire in an apparent protest against government religious restrictions and was shot by security forces, international Tibetan advocacy groups reported yesterday. The monk, identified as Tapey, was shot Friday afternoon in the Tibetan town of Aba in Sichuan province, according to Free Tibet, the International Campaign for Tibet, and phayul.com, a news site affiliated with the Dalai Lama's government in exile. They said Tapey was carried to a van and driven to an undisclosed location, possibly a hospital. (AP)

India's foreign minister urged Sri Lanka yesterday to cease hostilities immediately and help evacuate thousands caught in a civil war with the Tamil Tigers. India's government faces pressure to protect Tamils, closely linked to about 60 million Tamils in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, an issue all the more sensitive ahead of general elections in May. In Sri Lanka, the Tigers are confined to less than 58 square kilometers and are being pushed toward a 12-kilometer no-fire zone on the island's northeastern coast where tens of thousands have taken refuge. (Reuters)

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Friday declared a state emergency due to drought and said he would consider mandatory water rationing in the face of nearly $3 billion in economic losses from below-normal rainfall this year. State agricultural officials said as many as 95,000 agricultural jobs will be lost; some growers in the most economically productive farm state simply are not able to plant, calling the current drought the most expensive ever. (Reuters)

Canadian parliamentarians accepted more free trips to Israel last year than any other country. Israel outnumbered other destinations nearly two to one, with 74 sponsored trips, beating out Taiwan as the previous most popular country. A report by Canada's ethics commissioner shows the Canada-Israel Committee paid more than 160,000 Canadian dollars to send 24 federal politicians on trips to Israel, often with their spouses. Shimon Fogel, CEO of the Canada-Israel Committee, said the trips enable parliamentarians to better understand Israel's geopolitical situation. (Rhonda Spivak)