Six police killed in ambush

BAGOTA (TWT): Rebels have ambushed a pick-up truck carrying policemen in northern Colombia, killing six officers and their civilian driver, according to a state governor.

Gustavo Lecompte, governor of Bolivar state, said the two officers who survived the attack by some 30 members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, were both wounded.

The victims were attacked with grenades and gunfire.

It was the second rebel ambush of police this month. On January 7, FARC rebels ambushed a police convoy east of the capital Bogota, killing eight policemen and wounding five.

Today's attack happened near the village of Zambrano, 550km north of Bogota.

Six hurt in airbus drama at airport

NEW YORK (TWT): A plane has hit a passenger access point at New York's LaGuardia Airport, injuring six airport workers.

The Northwest Airlines Airbus A319 was being moved from a parking area to a gate when it hit a jetway, causing the plane's landing gear to collapse, airline spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said.

There were no passengers on the plane or the jetway - the accordian-like tunnel used to connect planes to terminal gates.

A customer service agent on the jetway, three ground employees guiding the aircraft and two mechanics were treated for minor injuries at a hospital and released, Ebenhoch said.

Police raid London mosque, arrest seven

LONDON (TWT): British anti-terrorist police arrested seven people in a dramatic raid of a London mosque early Monday as part of their investigation into the recent
discovery of the poison ricin.

Police raided the North London Central Mosque, the base for one of Britain's most outspoken Muslim clerics, and two adjacent buildings in London's Finsbury
Park area.

Witness said about 150 officers took part in the raid, smashing through the windows of the mosque. Some were armed while others carried ladders and
battering rams.

Overhead, two helicopters lit the buildings with spotlights.

The raid was described as Britain's biggest anti-terror operation since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Seven people were arrested under the Terrorism Act of 2000 and were being held for questioning.

Police didn't find any ricin during the raid, but said the operation was linked to the arrest this month of four men who had the poison in their apartment.

Residents on alert as toll rises

CANBERRA (TWT): The number of homes destroyed in the Canberra fires has risen to 419, and residents are bracing for a fresh onslaught today.

Australian Federal Police released the updated property toll this morning.

It came as people in the northern suburbs were urged to stay at home and prepare for fires fuelled by strong winds and high temperatures.

The threat centres on fires burning in NSW which could be fanned across the border into the ACT by changing weather conditions.

NSW Rural Fire Services Commissioner Phil Koperberg today said if winds picked up, those living in north-west Canberra would face fire.

Twelve killed in South African road accident

JOHANNESBURG (TWT): Twelve people, including two children, were killed in a an accident on a freeway in the north of the country, soures said Monday.

The accident happened on Sunday night on the road between Fochville and Potchefstroom, about 150 kilometres (90 miles) southeast of Johannesburg when a tyre on a car burst, causing it to collide with a minibus, police spokesman Louis Jacobs said.

"There were eight people in the car -- one man, five women and two small girls -- who all died on the scene," Superintendent Jacobs told to a foreign news agency.

Three men and a woman travelling in the minibus were also killed. A woman and her child were injured and taken to hospital and were said to be in stable condition.