News in Brief

Maldivian president ends re-election bid
Afp, Male

Maldivian President Mohamed Waheed has withdrawn his candidature for fresh elections which were ordered by the Supreme Court after a previous round of voting was annulled, an official said yesterday.
Waheed quit the re-election bid after getting just over five percent of the popular vote at the September 7 elections which were controversially cancelled by the country's highest court earlier this week.

N Korea warns of 'all-out war'
Afp, Seoul

North Korea yesterday issued a fresh warning of an "all-out war", urging the United States to stop military drills and what it described as "nuclear blackmail".
The comments come after a two-day joint naval drill between Japan, South Korea and the US, which included an American nuclear aircraft carrier, sparked a series of angry responses and threats from Pyongyang.

Factory blast kills in Vietnam
Afp, Hanoi

At least 21 people have died and scores more have been injured in an explosion at a fireworks factory in a military complex in Vietnam, an army official said yesterday.
Plumes of black smoke billowed from the Z121 military facility, around 120 kilometres north of Hanoi, as fireworks exploded uncontrollably for several hours, witnesses said. Some 2,000 local residents were also evacuated. The cause of the explosion was not known immediately.

US ship detained by Venezuela
BBC Online

Guyana yesterday said the Venezuelan navy has entered its territorial waters and detained a US-operated ship which was granted a contract to look for oil in the area.
The government said the Venezuelan actions in the disputed Essequibo region constituted "a serious threat to peace in the region".

Quake hits southwest Pakistan
Afp, Quetta

A 5.1 magnitude earthquake struck southwest Pakistan yesterday, meteorological officials said, with tremors felt in some of the areas ravaged by a deadly quake last month.
The earthquake struck at a depth of 10 kilometres, and its epicentre was 80 kilometres  southwest of Khuzdar in Baluchistan province, senior meteorologist Tauseef Alam said.
No loss of life or property was immediately reported.