<B>Bush opens Latin America tour to boost US ties</B>

US President George W. Bush opened a week-long tour of Latin America yesterday aimed at strengthening ties with a region tilting to the left and influenced by the populist appeal of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Addressing speculation his trip was a response to Chavez, Bush said his intention was to show the United States cared about its neighbors. Asked whether he was concerned about Chavez?s influence in Latin America, Bush said that people in the region were free to choose whatever system of government they wanted. The Bush administration said it gave about $1.6 billion in aid to Latin America last year.

<B>Experts struggle to identify Indonesia plane crash dead </B>

Experts struggled yesterday to identify bodies badly burned when an Indonesian plane overshot a runway and burst into flames as it landed in the cultural capital of Yogyakarta, killing more than 20 people.

Airliner Garuda Indonesia said only nine of the dead had been identified from the Wednesday morning accident that has brought the state of Indonesian air travel safety back into the spotlight.

<B>Magnitude 6 quake off eastern Japan, no damage </B>

A magnitude 6 earthquake was registered southeast of Japan?s eastern coast, the Meteorological Agency said yesterday. The focus of the tremor was 140 km (87 miles) below the surface of the earth near Torishima, an uninhabited island 600 km south of Tokyo, the agency said. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage and no tsunami warning was issued. The earthquake measured up to two on the Japanese intensity scale, which measures ground motion. A quake with that reading could be felt by some people. Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world?s most seismically active areas.

<B>Pilgrims defy attacks</B>

More than a million Shi?ite Muslim pilgrims poured into Iraq?s holy city of Kerbala, defying sectarian attacks that have killed about 200 people in two days of bloodshed.

<B>Vote counting begins in Ireland</B>

Vote counting began in Northern Ireland yesterday after an election for an assembly where voters hope feuding politicians will set aside bitter differences and finally work together to resolve local problems.

<B>Abe orders wartime sexslave study</B>

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may order a new study of the government?s role in forcing women to act as wartime sex slaves for soldiers, a media report said, a step that could spark fresh outrage overseas.

<B> Congolese official arrested </B>

Democratic Republic of Congo?s top nuclear research official has been arrested, the government said, after a Kinshasa newspaper reported uranium had gone missing from an atomic institute in the city.

<B> Historic shake-up of tradition </B>

British legislators voted for a historic shake-up of the tradition-bound upper chamber of parliament, saying all or most of its members should be elected instead of appointed as most are now.