Power cuts as storms lash Victoria, 1 dead

MELBOURNE • Wind gusts and storms lashed the Australian state of Victoria yesterday, killing one woman and disrupting power supplies to more than 100,000 people.

About 120,000 homes were without power in the country's second-most populous state and Melbourne's International Airport closed one of two runways, causing significant delays.

REUTERS

Jerusalem shooting: 2 die, gunman killed

JERUSALEM • A Palestinian opened fire from a car in Jerusalem yesterday and again as Israeli police chased him, killing an officer and a woman, in what the authorities called a terrorist attack as fears grew of a new spike in violence.

The gunman, reportedly scheduled to begin a prison term the same day, was killed soon after the attack near police headquarters, close to the line dividing mainly Palestinian east Jerusalem from the city's mostly Jewish western sector.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Tycoon pays $12m for 'D5' car number plate

DUBAI • An Indian tycoon paid 33 million dirhams (S$12 million) for a single-digit car registration plate in Dubai, feeding a passion for "unique" car number plates.

Mr Balwinder Sahani, who owns a Dubai-based property management company, bought the "D5" plate in an auction organised by the road authority, the Gulf News daily reported yesterday.

Auctions for such car plates are a trend in the United Arab Emirates, netting millions of dollars for some organisers.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE