International News August 4

Sixteen Chinese policemen have been killed in an explosives attack on a border post in Xinjiang, a region populated by the Muslim Uighur people, the state media organization Xinhua reports. The two attackers were captured in a raid near the city of Kashgar, some 2,500 miles from Beijing, Xinhua reports. Occurring just four days before the Beijing Olympic Games, BBC’s James Reynolds predicts the episode will make event organizers nervous. Uighur separatists have been engaged in a low-level campaign against Chinese rule for decades. Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing Games Organizing Committee, said: “China has focused on strengthening security and protection around Olympic venues and at the Olympics Village, so Beijing is already prepared to respond to any threat.”

There is a manhunt ongoing in Kenya for Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, an al-Qaeda operative who purportedly evaded a police raid during the weekend in the coastal town of Malindi, where he was being housed by friends, BBC reports. Mohammed is wanted for the attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania 10 years ago that claimed more than 250 lives. The BBC‘s Odhiambo Joseph in Mombasa reports police and naval patrols have been intensified at the coast after the failed arrest bid during the weekend. The United States has offered a reward of up to $5 million (£2.5m) for his arrest.

The UN World Food Programme is expanding operations in Haiti thanks to a $23 million allocation from the U.S. garnered through the organization’s high food price appeal. In an effort to cope with rising food costs, the WFP is helping more than 800,000 people in Haiti and plans to assist 2.3 million people by the end of 2008. WFP rations help struggling families and also work to stabilize Haitian society. “Our food is critical to helping people cope with high prices – a daily burden on people who were already very poor,” said WFP Regional Director Pedro Medrano.

The first environment-friendly school in the Middle East will be built in Dubailand, a 3-billion square foot tourism, entertainment and retail complex developed by a state real estate company in the United Arab Emirate of Dubai, Zawya reports. Owned by Taaleem, which also runs Dubai British School and Uptown School, among others, it will take children from nursery through grade 12. The first phase of students, from kindergarten to grade six, will start in September 2009. The school, which will have a teacher-training college and boarding by completion in 2012, will feature a number of elements including solar panels and wind turbines for education purposes, but will not supply power. However, the developers are following guidelines of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) system, which allows developers to apply for rating of either certified, silver, fold and platinum. The developer is aiming for silver rating.