PERSIAN GULF

AMERICAN CONTRACTOR IS KIDNAPPED IN BAGHDAD

An American contractor was kidnapped yesterday in the Baghdad area, the latest in a string of abductions that have forced many foreigners to work here under armed guard. A pickup truck also exploded near an American convoy as it patrolled a crowded market in the troubled city of Samarra, killing at least three people and injuring more than 20 others.

Three suicide bombers also hit a Marine outpost in western Iraq, wounding three Marines and three civilians in an attack claimed by Iraq’s most feared terror groups. A U.S. Embassy spokesman said the American contractor, who was working on a reconstruction project, had been abducted around noon. He refused to release an identity or other details, but said the contractor’s family had been informed. In Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, a pickup truck blew up near an American patrol, killing three civilians and wounding more than 20 others, including four American soldiers, officials said. One soldier was evacuated for medical treatment, and the others were treated and returned to duty.

– Associated Press

RUMSFELD VISITS IRAQ, URGES LEADERS TO BUILD DEMOCRACY

The leaders of Iraq’s emerging new government must not allow “turbulence or incompetence or corruption” to slow or foil progress toward building democracy and defeating the insurgency, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said.

Mr. Rumsfeld arrived at the Iraqi capital before sunrise today aboard an Air Force C-17 cargo plane for his second visit in three months. The visit reflects a desire to push the political and military momentum that he believes has been growing since the January 30 elections for a national assembly. Mr. Rumsfeld was scheduled to meet later today with the interim president, Jalal Talabani, the Kurdish former rebel leader, and Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the Shiite Muslim who was designated interim prime minister last week. Once Mr. al-Jaafari has chosen his cabinet ministers and they are approved by the National Assembly, he and Mr. Talabani are to lead Iraq’s transition to a constitutionally elected government by December. En route from Washington, Mr. Rumsfeld told reporters he would press the new Iraqi leadership to avoid delays on either the political or security front at a time when American troops are still being killed or wounded and billions of American taxpayer dollars are being invested in rebuilding the country.

– Associated Press

MIDDLE EAST

‘NAZI WHO SAVED JEWS’ IS HONORED POSTHUMOUSLY

JERUSALEM – A German military officer who became known as the “Nazi who saved Jews” was honored yesterday by Israel’s Holocaust memorial for rescuing hundreds of Jews from death camps during World War II.

Major Karl Plagge was named “Righteous among the nations” in a posthumous ceremony at the Yad Vashem memorial in Jerusalem. The honor is reserved for non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust, when Nazis killed 6 million Jews. Plagge served as a Nazi officer in Lithuania from 1941-44, where he was in charge of a factory that employed hundreds of Jews. According to Yad Vashem, Plagge employed unqualified people to save them from deportation, and warned his workers in June 1944 that German troops were approaching. The warning enabled some 200 people to escape and survive.

– Associated Press

SOUTH ASIA

FACTORY COLLAPSE KILLS AT LEAST 21

SAVAR, Bangladesh – A nine-story garment factory in Bangladesh collapsed after a boiler exploded yesterday, killing at least 21, police and rescuers said.

Rescuers used welding machines to cut holes in the rubble to reach people and pump air to survivors at the sweater-making factory near Savar, an industrial town 20 miles northwest of the capital Dhaka. Police said at least 300 people were in the factory when it collapsed. Twenty-one bodies have so far been recovered and nearly 200 people are believed to be still beneath the rubble, said a fire brigade official at the scene, Selim Newaz Bhuiyan. At least 92 injured workers were pulled from the debris and taken to hospitals, he said.

– Associated Press