San Jose - A modern science and business centre is set to be built in Costa Rica with financial assistance from China, Costa Rican authorities said Wednesday.

The 65-million-dollar complex will seek to attract investment from state-of-the-art companies, the daily La Nacion reported.

Wang Xiaoyuan, the Chinese ambassador to Costa Rica, confirmed the project.

"The idea is to have a development area with research and production to attract investment," he explained.

Bogota  - A police officer and a civilian were injured Wednesday and six trucks were set ablaze in an alleged rebel attack in eastern Colombia, the authorities said.

The attack targeted a police station in the town of Tibu, in the province of Norte de Santander on the Venezuelan border.

Colonel Richard Portilla, police commander in Norte de Santander, said the injured were a police officer who was involved in the shootout with alleged members of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and a civilian passerby.

Cairo/Gaza City  - Egypt on Wednesday opened the Rafah border crossing for two days to allow Palestinians stranded on both sides of the border to cross, Gaza's Interior Ministry and Egypt's official MENA news agency reported.

Trucks carrying humanitarian supplies and more than 100 Palestinians that had been stranded in Egypt crossed into the Palestinian enclave via the Rafah crossing, MENA reported.

Los Angeles  - An arsonist who set a massive wildfire in southern California in 2006 that killed five firefighters is facing the death penalty after being convicted for murder and arson, it was reported Wednesday.

Raymond Lee Oyler, 38, was convicted on five counts of murder, 20 counts of arson and 17 counts of using an incendiary device, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The prosecutor said Oyler coldheartedly killed the five firefighters in the 2006 Esperanza fire, which he set using a device made with matchsticks and a cigarette.

Lon

Geneva - An aid worker was killed in the conflict area in northern Sri Lanka, the humanitarian organization CARE International said Wednesday.

R. Sabesan, aged 24, worked for CARE and was hit in a shelling Tuesday in the so-called no-fire zone. He later died of his wounds as he was unable to access medical care, the aid group said.

"The toll this war is taking on civilians is devastating," said Nick Osborne from CARE in a statement. "Humanitarian workers trapped in the conflict zone are just as much at risk as anyone else."