3 dead, 18 injured in blast in resort city

ANKARA -- An explosion yesterday in the Mediterranean city of Antalya killed three people and injured 18 others in the second blast in a Turkish resort area in as many days. A hard-line Kurdish militant group claimed responsibility for the earlier bomb attack that injured 21 people in Marmaris on Sunday night, including 10 British tourists. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons warned on its website yesterday that ``tourists should not come to Turkey." (AP)

INDIA

JAIPUR -- Monsoon rains and flooding have killed at least 130 people in India's western state of Rajasthan, officials said yesterday, with huge tracts of desert underwater. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced in Barmer, which borders Pakistan and is noted for sand dunes. Dozens of people are missing. Hundreds of people marooned on dunes, surrounded by water, were being rescued by military helicopters and boats. (Reuters)

GAZA STRIP

GAZA CITY -- Israeli forces killed six Palestinians in separate confrontations yesterday with militants in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. Three Palestinians died in a raid on an Islamist militant stronghold by Israeli forces and two in separate incidents in Gaza. In the West Bank, undercover troops shot to death a wanted member of an armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, in a confrontation in Ramallah. (Reuters)

GUYANA

GEORGETOWN -- Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday was expected to win a second term in the former British colony as voters went to the polls under tough security to prevent clashes that marred previous elections. Polls show Jagdeo, a 42-year-old economist who has promised to tackle rising crime and deliver improved services, is favored to secure a second 5-year term and will likely keep his party's parliamentary majority. (Reuters)

PAKISTAN

QUETTA -- Riots broke out yesterday in southwestern Pakistan after the weekend killing of one of the country's most prominent tribal chiefs, with protesters torching shops and buses in a third day of unrest. Nawab Akbar Bugti was killed Saturday in a military raid. Riots in Quetta left at least two people dead and a dozen wounded Sunday. Yesterday, five people were injured in clashes between protesters and police in Pasni, where shops were set ablaze. (AP)

KAZAKHSTAN

ASTANA -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi arrived in Kazakhstan yesterday on the first visit by a Japanese premier to the former Soviet region. Koizumi's visit comes at a time when Russia, China, and the United States are battling for influence in the region, which has massive oil, natural gas, and uranium reserves. Japan's foray into Central Asia underlines its resolve to play a more active role in the region, home to US and Russian military bases. (Reuters)

BRAZIL

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazilian paleontologists have discovered a new giant dinosaur species based on fossilized fragments of a herbivorous reptile that lived 80 million years ago. The Maxakalisaurus topai, of the Titanosauria group, was about 14 yards long and weighed 9 tons. It had a long tail and neck with a small head. (Reuters)