American’s killers hanged in Jordan
Two men convicted of killing a U.S. aid official were hanged before dawn Saturday in Jordan’s first execution of al-Qaida-linked militants.
Libyan Salem bin Suweid and Jordanian Yasser Freihat were executed for the 2002 killing of Laurence Foley, a 60-year-old administrator with the U.S. Agency for International Development who was gunned down outside his Amman home. The murder plot was blamed on al-Qaida in Iraq chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Bin Suweid was charged with shooting Foley, and Freihat was found guilty of driving the getaway car.
Lahore, Pakistan
Kite-fliers defy ban in Pakistan
Hundreds of kites filled the skies of Pakistan’s cultural capital on Saturday, the opening day of a traditional spring festival, despite a ban that followed the deaths of seven people killed by glass-coated or wire kite strings.
The two-day festival of Basant has been celebrated in the eastern city of Lahore for centuries, culminating with thousands of kites soaring into the night and boisterous rooftop parties.
On Saturday, police swiftly raided homes where kites were seen flying from back yards in scattered parts of the city. Some people cut the strings as police approached and denied they had defied the ban, witnesses said.
The provincial government banned kite-flying throughout the Punjab province on Thursday following seven deaths in the past two weeks caused by sharp kite strings.
Kite fliers reinforce strings with wire or ground glass for dueling other kites and betting on who wins.
Katmandu, Nepal
Revered boy missing in Nepal
A 15-year-old boy whose followers believe he is the reincarnation of Buddha has disappeared after 10 months of meditation in the jungles of Nepal, officials said Saturday.
Followers of Ram Bahadur Banjan reported his disappearance and a police team has been sent to the jungles of Bara, about 100 miles south of the capital, Katmandu, to investigate, said Santaraj Subedi, the chief government official in the district.
It was still unclear when he went missing, but initial reports said he was last seen on Friday.
Subedi said police were investigating whether the boy just wandered into the jungle or was abducted by robbers.
Banjan has been sitting cross-legged and motionless with eyes closed in a niche among the roots of a tree in the jungle since May 17, 2005, according to his associates, who claim he has had no food or water during that period.