The Everett-based aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and three support ships arrived in Hong Kong Thursday for a routine port visit, the Xinhua news agency reported. The battle group pulled into Hong Kong after five weeks of exercises with the Japan maritime self-defense force and the South Korean navy. Rear Adm. John Goodwin, commander of the Lincoln strike group, said the carrier will head back to sea after the weekend to continue its western Pacific deployment.
Afghanistan: Mortar hits near base
A mortar exploded near a U.S. air base north of Kabul Thursday, killing one Afghan civilian and wounding at least two others, a police official said. Police and U.S.-led coalition forces, meanwhile, fought each other briefly in southern Helmand province before dawn Thursday after each side mistakenly thought the others were Taliban rebels, a provincial police chief said. Eight police were wounded in the clash, he said. A U.S. military spokesman said the matter was being looked into.
Indonesia: Modest Playboy on sale
A toned-down edition of Playboy magazine went on sale Friday in Indonesia, defying threats of protests by Islamic hard-liners in the world’s most populous Muslim nation. The first edition’s most graphic photos – female models in undergarments – appeared no more risque than those in other magazines already for sale in the country. More explicit photos appear daily in local tabloids. One hard-line group, the Islamic Defenders Front, pledged to remove the magazines from shops.
From Herald news services
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