World At A Glance

BANGKOK: The world8217;s first international cockfighting championship got down to business in Thailand on Sunday, with a beaked battler from Vietnam taking honours in the first bout, organisers said. Chickens from eight Asian nations were paraded in front of a crowd of hundreds of spectators at a lavish opening ceremony at the Native Chicken Academic and Demonstration Centre in southern Chon Buri province. Up to 100 birds from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam are set to duke it out on Sunday for the title of the world8217;s meanest bird . In the opening fight, organisers said a chicken from Vietnam defeated a Thai contender. The fights last five rounds of 15 minutes each and are scored by a referee using a boxing computer system. Weigh-ins and other preliminary events took place on Saturday. Organisers of the world championships are determined to erase the sport8217;s bloody image by using referees and even gloving the birds. 8220;Sometimes in the villages chickens die duringthe fights. They never give up, Even when they8217;re close to death,8221; said organiser Abhichai Ratanavaraha. 8220;But the objective of the championships is to achieve some international standards for future events. The chickens will have gloves on their feet and if one gets injured the referee will stop the fight.quot;

ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan8217;s Islamic militia leadership was prepared to discuss US demands to hand over Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden who is accused of two murderous bombings, a Taliban spokesman was reported as saying on Sunday. Washington wanted the expulsion of the alleged terrorist from Afghanistan or his handover to the United States or Saudi Arabia, Taliban spokesman Abdul Mutmaen told the Afghan Islamic Press AIP.

Speaking to the Pakistan-based private information service from Kandahar, the Taliban8217;s Afghanistan headquarters, Mutmaen said US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian affairs, Karl Inderfurth, made the proposal in talks with Taliban Deputy Foreign Minister MaulviJalil Akhund in Islamabad on Wednesday.Mutmaen said the Taliban position on the American request would be made public after discussion by the leadership.

LONDON: Tycoon Richard Branson is planning to launch a fresh attempt to fly non-stop round the world by balloon later this year from Argentina, a British newspaper reported on Sunday. The Express on Sunday said that Branson would launch a fourth and final bid to lead the first balloon team to circle the globe from Mendoza, Argentina, and that preparations were being made for a June or July take-off. Branson once again would team up with US millionaire Steve Fossett and Swedish balloonist Per Lindstrand, said the weekly tabloid. The threesome failed a round-the-world attempt in December, splashing down on December 25 in shark-infested waters 16 km north of Oahu, the main island of Hawaii.