Border patrol

　　GEORGIA has started patrolling the country's mountainous border with Russia with fighter jets, a Defense Ministry spokeswoman said Saturday.

　　The patrols by Su-25 ground attack jets began Friday and come amid increasing tension between Georgia and Russia over the alleged presence of Chechen rebels in Georgian border regions. 

　　Evacuation

　　FRENCH and U.S. forces launched a helicopter evacuation Sunday of a second Ivory Coast city, ferrying Westerners from the northern rebel stronghold of Korhogo.

　　Like Bouake, the first city evacuated this week, Korhogo has been declared a war zone by the government and is under threat of attack.

　　Bodies recovered

　　DIVERS smashed the windows of the capsized Senegalese ferry MS Joola and hauled out victims of one of Africa's worst ferry disasters. At least 180 bodies have been recovered from among more than 730 people believed dead.

　　Barricades held back crowds who stood vigil by the hundreds overnight at the main naval base in Dakar, Senegal's capital - waiting to know, for some, whether whole families had perished.

　　Cabinet changes

　　JAPANESE Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was set to replace some cabinet ministers on Monday in a move many hope will yield clues to whether Tokyo will embark on bold action to clean up the nation's ailing banks.

　　Financial markets are keen to find out whether Financial Services Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa will be replaced, a personnel change that could signal a shift to a more aggressive banking policy including a controversial injection of taxpayers' money into banks to speed disposal of their massive bad loans.