CHARLOTTE AMALIE: Hurricane Bertha claimed its first victim yesterday, with a 35-year-old American surfer missing off Puerto Rico. A Venezuelan ship was also trapped in the storm, with at least half the 42 people on board reported missing.

Bertha, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, thrashed north-east Caribbean islands across a 400-mile area, with winds gusting up to 103mph. Hundreds of people in the US Virgin Islands and in Puerto Rico crowded into government shelters.

Briton held

VIENNA: A British computer expert was arrested in Austria for trying to blackmail British food companies by threatening to contaminate their products with microbiological organisms. The 37-year-old owner of a computer firm, whose identity was withheld, will appear in court in Vienna today. His wife and a male relative were arrested in Nottingham.

Colonel flees

WASHINGTON: A Cuban officer seeking US asylum hijacked a Cuban airliner at pistol point and forced it to land at the US Navy base in Guantanamo on the island. Lieutenant Colonel Jose Fernandez Pupo requested asylum in the United States, prompting a wrangle between Washington and Havana over his fate.

Menem gun attack

BUENOS AIRES: Argentine police reinforced security for top political figures yesterday after gunmen burst into the house of President Carlos Menem's brother at the weekend and shot dead an unarmed bodyguard. The gang burst into the Buenos Aires home of Senator Eduardo Menem, shot a policeman dead, and injured another before escaping after a fierce gunfight with other police bodyguards.

Snow kills 17

JOHANNESBURG: Unprecedented winter storms have killed at least 17 people in South Africa. Eight died of exposure while nine suffocated as they huddled round coal fires in unventilated shacks.

Kovalyov ill

MOSCOW: Russia's top human rights activist, Sergei Kovalyov, 66, suffered a serious heart attack yesterday and was in grave condition in a Moscow hospital.

Singer charged

LOS ANGELES: Drug charges were filed yesterday against David Gahan, lead singer of the British rock group Depeche Mode. Gahan, 34, arrested on May 28 at a Hollywood hotel after apparently suffering an overdose, was due to be arraigned today with possessing and being under the influence of cocaine.

Embryo fury

VATICAN CITY: The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano has reacted angrily to media reports that doctors in Britain were preparing to destroy 2500 unwanted frozen human embryos. ``The fate of the embryos conserved in these London clinics clearly and forcefully re-emphasises the point that there is an ethical Rubicon that science must not cross,'' the paper said.

Graves vandalised

PARIS: Vandals have smashed more than 100 British war graves in a First World War military cemetery near Hazebrouck in northern France. The damage was discovered on Sunday night at the Aval Wood cemetery at Vieux-Berquin, but it was not clear when the 112 gravestones were overturned.

Vision draws flock

ADELAIDE: Pilgrims and sightseers are flocking in thousands to a small country church in South Australia after its priest described an image of the Virgin Mary and child on the altar wall. The Rev Andrew Nutter of the Anglican Christ Church in Yankalilla, south of Adelaide, says the image of a woman looking at the part of the church where consecrated bread is kept has grown stronger since he first noticed it two years ago.

Happiness trial

HELSINKI: A Finnish town has launched a ``Happy Days'' campaign in an effort to cheer up its inhabitants after last year being ranked the country's gloomiest place. Last weekend in Pieksamaki, the market stayed open all day, a steam engine took people on a tour, writers held a seminar, and one woman gave away free potatoes. ``This is not a city of depressed people,'' said mayor Heimo Polvi.