Rebels kill 2 police in Assam: r«o personnel of the Assam police battalion were shot dead while arms and ammunition were snatched from two others by suspected Bodo extremists in Assam’s Kokajhar district Thursday, official sources said, PTI reports from Guwahati.

More than 20 extremists stormed the Dangtol Bazaar and started firing at the policemen who were on duty. Two policemen were sprayed with bullets and killed on the spot while extremists snatched arms and ammunition from two other policemen on duty. ,

Typhoon Faith hits Philippines:

Typhoon. Faith slammed into the central Philippiries early yesterday with wind gusts up to 150 km per hour, Manila's weather bureau said, AFP reports from Manila.

Typhoon Faith's centre hit central Masbate province at 4 am (2000 GMT) and was forecast to reach nearby Occidental Mindoro early today.

Chechen prosecutor disappears: Only days after the gruesome beheadings of four foreigners. Chechnya's general prosecutor has disappeared, a news report said Friday. AP reports from Moscow.

Mansur Tagirov vanished Thursday evening as he returned to Chechnya’s capital Grozny from a small village, according to the Interfax news agency. Citing unidentified sources. Interfax said Tagirov could have been seized by armed bands who want one of their colleagues freed from prison. Tagirov was Investigating the deaths of four foreigners whose heads were found Tuesday lined up by a roadside in the breakaway Russian repub-

Cyclone Thelma nears Australia: The last of 600 people were evacuated Friday from the sparsely populated Dampier peninsula in northwest Australia as cyclone Thelma's highly destructive winds bore down on the coastline. AP reports from Perth.

"About 400 of them self-evacuated to Broome and Derby last night, and 200 are in a convoy to Broome as we speak," State Emergency Service (SES) Broome region assistant manager Alan Gale said. The category five cyclone packing 300 kph winds near its destructive core — the most severe on record to assault Australia — was brushing past Western Australia's northern-most tip Thursday night.

US college professor shot dead: a college professor giving final exams Thursday night was fatally shot by a gunman who fired several shots before fleeing, AP reports from Detroit.

The Wayne State University professor died at Detroit receiving hospital, a statement from the university said. The professor was not immediately identified. A police spokesman said he had been shot several times. None of the students were Injured.