PERSIAN GULF

AMERICAN HOSTAGE FREED AFTER 10 MONTHS IN CAPTIVITY

BAGHDAD, Iraq – The American military raided an isolated farmhouse outside the capital yesterday and rescued an American held hostage for 10 months. The kidnappers, who had kept their captive bound and gagged, escaped without a gunbattle. Roy Hallums, 57, was “in good condition and is receiving medical care,” a military statement said.

The rescue came on a day that saw two deadly bombings around the southern city of Basra, fueling fears the bloody insurgency was taking deeper root outside Sunni-dominated territory. A roadside bomb killed four American security guards, and an Interior Ministry official said 15 people were killed and 21 were injured in a car bombing at a restaurant in a central market.

– Associated Press

MIDDLE EAST

FORMER GAZA SECURITY CHIEF, COUSIN OF ARAFAT KILLED

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – About 100 masked terrorists stormed the heavily guarded home of Gaza’s former security chief early yesterday, dragged him out in his pajamas and killed him in a burst of gunfire – a brazen challenge to the Palestinian Authority days before Israel was to hand over Gaza.

A 65-year-old cousin of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Moussa Arafat, was killed after a 30-minute gunbattle between the assailants and dozens of bodyguards. The gunmen also kidnapped Arafat’s oldest son, Manhal. The Popular Resistance Committees, a violent group made up largely of former members of the Fatah movement of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, later claimed responsibility.

– Associated Press

EAST ASIA

TROPICAL STORM KILLS AT LEAST 16

TOKYO – A powerful tropical storm churned northward through the Sea of Japan yesterday, killing at least 16 people and leaving landslides and flooded towns in its wake.The storm made landfall late yesterday night on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido, where up to 10 inches of rain was expected by early today, the Meteorological Agency said.

Typhoon Nabi had slammed into southern Japan on Tuesday,flooding towns and driving more than 300,000 people from their homes. About 1,500 soldiers were deployed to fortify coastal defenses and help in the rescue effort.

– Associated Press

CARIBBEAN

CHAVEZ OIL TRADING INITIATIVE APPROVED

KINGSTON, Jamaica – The government yesterday accused the main opposition party of hurting Jamaica’s productivity, a day after widespread street protests that left one man dead, blocked roads, and forced most businesses and schools to close.

The protests came as Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chavez, met with Caribbean leaders in the resort town of Montego Bay. The leaders of nine countries gave final approval to an oil trading initiative offered by Mr. Chavez as an alternative to free trade deals backed by America amid rising world fuel prices.

The opposition Jamaica Labor Party, which has accused Prime Minister P.J. Patterson’s government of hurting the poor by raising prices for public utilities and bus fares, led the demonstrations.

– Associated Press

WESTERN EUROPE

CHIRAC MISSES FIRST CABINET MEETING IN 10 YEARS

PARIS – President Chirac missed his first weekly Cabinet meeting since 1995 as he remained hospitalized yesterday with an eye problem. A government spokesman, Jean-Francois Cope, said Mr. Chirac was “in very good form” and confirmed that he would be released from the hospital before week’s end. The government has been criticized for allegedly guarding details of Mr. Chirac’s condition like a state secret.

In Mr. Chirac’s place, Prime Minister de Villepin presided over the weekly gathering of ministers, who met at the premier’s residence instead of the presidential Elysee Palace.

– Associated Press

YELTSIN BREAKS LEG IN ITALY

ROME – A former Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, was hospitalized yesterday after breaking a leg during a fall at Porto Rotondo, officials said.

Mr. Yeltsin’s spokesman, Vladimir Shevchenko, told Russia’s ITAR-Tass news agency that the former president had broken a thighbone in a bad fall while on vacation in Italy and would be flown to Russia later yesterday.

Porto Rotondo is an exclusive resort on Sardinia’s Emerald Coast. Premier Berlusconi, among others, has a home nearby.

– Associated Press

SCHROEDER’S WIFE SAYS MERKEL FAILS WORKING MOTHERS

BERLIN – The fourth wife of Chancellor Schroeder accused her husband’s electoral rival, Angela Merkel, of “failing”working mothers in the latest of a series of barbed attacks that has shocked observers.

Doris Schroeder-Kopf, 42, in three interviews, has insinuated that Mrs. Merkel, 51, will not make a good leader because she is childless and has shown little support for policies that benefit working mothers.

Yesterday she said that Mrs. Merkel, as minister for Women and Youth, a post she held in the early 1990s, did not support measures to make child care more widely available.

“Of the academics of my generation some 40% remained childless [as a result],” she told the gossip magazine Bunte.

– The Daily Telegraph

NORTH AMERICA

IN A ROLE REVERSAL, MEXICO SENDS AID TO KATRINA VICTIMS

MEXICO CITY – Radio talk shows and newspapers here buzzed with excitement over news that Mexico, long on the receiving end of American disaster relief, was sending a hurricane aid convoy to help its larger, richer, and more powerful northern neighbor.

A convoy of 45 vehicles and 196 soldiers arrived at the border city of Nuevo Laredo yesterday evening. It was to cross into American territory early today, General Francisco Ortiz Valadez told reporters as his men refueled at a local gas station.

He said the troops would help refugee operations in San Antonio, Texas.

Carrying water treatment plants, mobile kitchens, and supplies to feed victims of Hurricane Katrina, the army convoy bound for Houston will be the first Mexican military unit to operate on American soil since 1846.

– Associated Press