4 killed in New York storm: vio lept thunderstormsKWwl posMibtei tornadoes bent flagpoles arid -blew out windows, causing at least four deaths including two people hit by debris at the New York State Fair. AP reports from

At least seven more people were injured at the fair and 20 buildings severely damaged in Syracuse, leaving about 140 students homeless from the early morning storm.

Blast hurts 14 in Macau: AParw car and a motorcycle exploded in a Macau street early yesterday injuring 14 people, police said. AP reports from Macau.

Witnesses said the car exploded first. When police and Journalists gathered at the scene, a blast from a nearby motorcycle caused the injuries. Among those Injured were four police officers. The rest were mostly Journalists.

New defence minister in DPRK: vice Marshal Kim II Choi. North Korea's top naval commander, has been appointed defence minister, the country's media reported yesterday. AP says from Seoul.

In a two-sentence dispatch, the North's Korean Central News Agency said leader Kim Jong II named the naval officer as minister of the People's Armed Forces, or defence minister.

Airstrikes kill 25 in Congo: An Angolan warplane attacked the rebel-held town of Kalemie in the southeast of the DR Congo on Monday, killing 25 people and wounding 40 others, rebel officer Jonas Taturu told Journalists. AFP reports from Goma. DRC. •

His announcement came as peace talks got under way in Zimbabwe between President Laurent Kabila and allies of both camps. The rebels announced that they were attacking the strategic eastern town of Kindu, from where allied warplanes can attack many rebel-held eastern towns.

Leopard kills baby girl in India: A leopard which is believed responsible for seriously mauling six people in northern India has killed a five-year old girl, the Press Trust of India (PTI) said Monday, AFP says from New Delhi.

The girl's body was recovered Sunday after she was snatched the previous day by the leopard outside her home in Champawat district in Uttar Pradesh state, it said.

Police seize N-materials in Istanbul: Turkish police have seized nuclear materials smuggled from Russia that could be used for weapons production, arresting eight people, including nationals of two former Soviet Republic, security officials said Monday, AFP reports from Istanbul.

Acting as potential buyers, police officers contacted the eight people and arrested them with 4.5 kg of "non active" uranium and six grams of "active" plutonium, the Istanbul police said in a statement.