Honours for Bhutto

Islamabad - Pakistan's new government has renamed the capital's international airport after Ms Benazir Bhutto, as its people commemorated the 55th birthday of the slain former prime minister yesterday.

Ms Bhutto, whose party heads the ruling coalition, was killed in a suicide gun and bomb attack after addressing an election rally in the garrison town of Rawalpindi on Dec27 last year.

'She is not among us today, yet she lives in the hearts and memories of the people of Pakistan,' Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said, after renaming Islamabad International airport as Benazir Bhutto International airport.

The Rawalpindi hospital to which Ms Bhutto was taken after the attack was also renamed after her, as was the road linking the city to the nearby hill resort of Murree.

Reuters

Mars ice confirmed

Washington - Scientists are rejoicing after the Phoenix Mars lander confirmed their long-held belief that ice is hiding under the surface of the Red Planet's northern region.

The lander's robotic arm started digging trenches into Martian soil after touching down near the planet's north pole on May25, revealing a white substance that scientists had said could be salt or ice.

Phoenix flexed its arm again to enlarge a trench on June 15. It then took photos of eight bright bits of material the size of dice inside the hole.

When the lander took new photographs of the trench four days later on Thursday, the material had vanished, settling the debate about whether it was salt or ice.

Scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California concluded that the material was frozen water which had evaporated when exposed to the sun. Salt would not have reacted that way, they said.

Besides evidence of water, the three-month Phoenix mission is also hoping to find life-supporting organic minerals in the polar region.

AFP

Martian ice can be seen to have melted slightly in this Nasa combination photo showing the trench dug by the Mars lander's robotic arm. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Chin Peng blocked

Putrajaya - An attempt by former communist leader Chin Peng to obtain permission to live in Malaysia has been blocked again.

The Court of Appeal has upheld a lower court's decision compelling him to produce identification documents to prove that he is a Malaysian citizen before he can pursue his legal action against the Malaysian government.

Chin Peng, whose real name is Ong Boon Hua and who is currently living in Thailand, says he cannot produce the documents as they were seized in 1948 when he narrowly escaped capture during a British police raid.

He claims he is entitled to return to Malaysia because he is of Malaysian origin. He says he was born on Oct20, 1923 in Sitiawan, Dinding, Perak, and grew up in Malaysia.

The government says his papers are not in its possession.

Bernama

Collapse kills seven

Beijing - At least seven people were killed and another 21 injured yesterday after the steel structure of a railway under construction collapsed in east China, state media reported.

The structure hit three houses, burying 28 people, Xinhua news agency said.

More than 450 rescue workers rushed to the scene in Wenzhou city in the booming coastal province of Zhejiang, according to a report on a local news website.

The reason for the collapse of the steel structure was unknown.

Old or poorly built infrastructure, however, is common in China.

AFP