At a glance

MIAMI: The Cuban grandmothers of Elian Gonzalez, the six-year-old boy rescued from the US waters two months ago, left Miami for Washington...

MIAMI: The Cuban grandmothers of Elian Gonzalez, the six-year-old boy rescued from the US waters two months ago, left Miami for Washington just as their US-based relatives arrived at the airport to see them. 8220;We were not confident of the security arrangements,8221; said Bob Edgar, general secretary of the US National Council of Churches which has been arranging the women8217;s travel. Edgar said the women were flying to Washington, where they have scheduled a number of meetings with legislators on Tuesday, but are 8220;ready to return at a moment8217;s notice8221;.

Two of the boy8217;s great uncles were arriving at the Miami airport to speak with the women but they had not brought the boy with them. Raquel Rodriguez, Elian8217;s maternal grandmother, and Mariela Quintana, his paternal grandmother, declined an invitation to have a reunion dinner at Lazaro Gonzalez8217;s house, where Elian has been staying since November. 8220;The grandmothers are ready to meet Elian Gonzalez,8221; Edgar said, but only 8220;in a neutralplace8221;.

JAKARTA: The church-burning spree, which engulfed the riot-hit Indonesian province of Maluku and spread to Lombok island, has reached Sumbawa, an island east of Lombok where two churches were set on fire, residents said on Tuesday. 8220;One church in Sango village was burned down on Sunday,8221; a church source in Bima, the main town on Sumbawa, told AFP. 8220;The priest had been warned and had evacuated to the home of his family, so when his house, the old church, was burned, it was already empty,8221; the source said. He said the new Kemah Injil church in Sango was pelted with stones and its roof was damaged.

KUALA LUMPUR: Supporters of Malaysia8217;s Anwar Ibrahim, whose sodomy trial resumed on Tuesday after a two-month break, vowed to stage more protests despite several arrests as riot police broke up a demonstration. 8220;We are not going to stop,8221; said Mohamad Ezam Mohamad Nor, a former aide to the jailed ex-deputy premier, after visiting a police station in a vain attempt to secure the releaseof 11 detained protesters. 8220;If they don8217;t treat us in a civil manner we will keep on demonstrating. We will exercise our righsaid todayt to assemble in Kuala Lumpur and elsewhere.8221; An estimated 200 people shouting 8220;arrest Prime Minister Mahathir8221; and 8220;free Anwar8221; had marched towards the police station after police dispersed another crowd outside a legal aid centre and made the arrests.

8211;Agencies