PERSIAN GULF

YEMEN SENDS TROOPS TO HIDEOUT OF TRIBE HOLDING ITALIAN HOSTAGES

MARIB, Yemen – The Yemeni government dispatched more helicopter-borne troops yesterday to encircle a rugged mountain hideout and cut off water deliveries to the region where a renegade tribe is holding five Italian tourists hostage. The Italians were taken captive Sunday. Tribal elders, who had been negotiating with the kidnappers, said the hostages still were held somewhere in the vast Sirwah region of Marib province, about 75 miles northeast of San’a.

– Associated Press

IRANIAN GOVERNMENT SHUTS DOWN TWO PUBLICATIONS

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s Culture Ministry closed a daily newspaper, Asia, and Nour-e-Banovan magazine, one of the publications said Tuesday, in a stiffening crackdown on the press. No reasons were given. Iran’s hard-line judiciary has closed down more than 100 pro-democracy publications in the past five years on vague charges of insulting religious sensibilities or top clerics.

– Associated Press

ISLAMIC GROUP KIDNAPS IRANIAN SOLDIERS, THREATENS TO KILL THEM

CAIRO, Egypt – An Islamic militant group, “Jundallah,” or God’s Brigade, kidnapped nine Iranian soldiers near that country’s border with Pakistan, and Al-Arabiya said yesterday the group threatened to kill them unless the Tehran government released 16 members from prison. The government confirmed the abduction and vowed to do its best to get the soldiers released. A group with the same name is suspected of numerous terror attacks in Pakistan, but it had not previously been known to operate in Iran.

– Associated Press

MIDDLE EAST

TURKEY REPORTS FIRST TWO HUMAN CASES OF BIRD FLU

ANKARA, Turkey – A 14-year-old farm boy, Mehmet Ali Kocyigit, who died after developing pneumonia-like symptoms has tested positive for bird flu. If confirmed in further tests, it would be the first human death from the ailment outside of east Asia. The boy’s sister, who is hospitalized and in serious condition, also tested positive for bird flu, Health Minister Recep Akdag said yesterday. A third sibling is also suspected of having bird flu.

– Associated Press

EASTERN EUROPE

POLISH GOVERNMENT RECALLS 10 AMBASSADORS WITH COMMUNIST PAST

WARSAW, Poland – Poland’s new conservative government will recall 10 ambassadors with links to communist-era authorities, the first such sweeping move in 16 years of democracy. Foreign Minister Stefan Meller decided to cut short the ambassadors’ missions amid a broader attempt by the new government to purge state offices of ex-communists, a ministry spokesman, Pawel Dobrowolski, told the Associated Press.

Mr. Dobrowolski refused to identify the ambassadors being recalled, but Polish press identified them as the ambassadors to Algeria, Argentina, Britain, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Israel, Lithuania, and Slovenia. The ambassador to Germany, Andrzej Byrt, has said publicly that he was informed his term was ending.

Marek Siwiec, adviser to the previous president, ex-communist Aleksander Kwasniewski, described the decision as “disturbing, unprecedented,” and “personal revenge.”

– Associated Press

WESTERN EUROPE

RESCUE WORKERS RECOVER 15TH VICTIM FROM WRECKED GERMAN RINK

BAD REICHENHALL, Germany – Rescue workers early today recovered the body of a woman believed to be the last person missing in the ruins of a skating rink here. Yesterday, somber rescuers recovered the bodies of three children, all of whom authorities said appeared to have been killed upon impact of the roof. Pope Benedict XVI, who grew up nearby, sent a message of sympathy to the grieving town.

– Associated Press

EAST AFRICA

KILIMANJARO ROCK SLIDE KILLS THREE FOREIGN CLIMBERS

ARUSHA, Tanzania – Rocks and boulders tumbled down Mount Kilimanjaro yesterday and crashed into a group of climbers sleeping in tents before their final ascent of Africa’s highest mountain. Three foreign climbers and an unknown number of guides were killed. A sudden change in weather at Kibo peak dislodged the rocks, the head of Tanzania National Parks, Gerald Digurube, said. He said five foreigners were seriously injured and were taken to Kilimanjaro Medical Center for treatment. No information was immediately available on the nationalities or names of the foreign climbers.

– Associated Press

EAST ASIA

U.S. URGES N. KOREA TO RETURN TO NUCLEAR TALKS WITHOUT CONDITIONS

SEOUL, South Korea – The American ambassador in Seoul urged North Korea on Wednesday to stop attaching conditions for resuming talks on its nuclear program, a day after the communist country renewed its demand that Washington lift sanctions against it. “The United States is ready to return to the table without attaching any new conditions, and we expect North Korea to do the same,” Alexander Vershbow said at a forum in Seoul, according to the text of his speech provided by the American Embassy. On Tuesday, the North said resuming negotiations would be “impossible” while Washington maintains the sanctions.

– Associated Press

CLEAN-UP CASTS SHROUD OVER BEIJING’S GLORY

BEIJING – The millions of tourists who visit Beijing each year are being warned that many of its most famous monuments will be under scaffolding and tarpaulins in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics. The centerpiece and largest building of the Forbidden City palace, the Hall of Supreme Harmony, will Friday become the latest historical site to disappear from view. It joins a list that already includes rooms, corridors, and courtyards in other parts of the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven and parts of the Summer Palace. Many smaller temples, lodges, and gardens are also under wraps.

Most of these sites remain open to the public. But tourists have begun to complain that they have been unable to see what they expected when they bought their tickets.

– The Daily Telegraph

SOUTHEAST ASIA

CAMBODIA ROUNDS UP CRITICS

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – The arrests of Cambodia’s two top human rights activists have raised fears the country is headed toward dictatorship again. Kem Sokha and Yeng Virak are awaiting trial on criminal defamation charges related to a banner criticizing the country’s prime minister and strongman, Hun Sen.

“Cambodia right now is at a crossroads. It must decide whether it’s going to be a real democracy or whether it’s going to move inexorably toward a one-party state,” American Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli said after watching Kem Sokha’s arrest Saturday at the Cambodian Center for Human Rights office.

– Associated Press

DEATH TOLL FROM INDONESIAN RAINS CLIMBS, COULD REACH 190

CIJERUK, Indonesia – A landslide caused by days of pounding rain buried the Java island village of Cijeruk yesterday, bringing the number of dead or missing from days of wet weather in central Indonesia to more than 190. Officials said 14 bodies had been recovered and about 100 more residents were missing and feared dead in the village. In the district of Jember, also on Java, the death toll from landslides and flash floods this week climbed to 77 after 14 more bodies were recovered, a local government spokesman, Edi Susilo, said. Dozens were still missing or stranded. – Associated Press

SOUTH ASIA

FIVE QUAKE SURVIVORS DIE OF COLD-RELATED AILMENTS IN PAKISTAN

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan – Freezing temperatures have claimed the lives of least five Pakistani earthquake survivors, a U.N. health official said yesterday, as a trickle of villagers descended from mountain settlements in Kashmir to seek shelter on lower ground. Khalif Bile of the World Health Organization said the rate of acute respiratory infections has risen by as much as 19%, mostly among children, in the past week. A U.N. official, Zulifquar Wasim, said helicopter relief flights resumed yesterday after being grounded for three days by bad weather.

– Associated Press

NORTH AMERICA

EARTHQUAKE STRIKES OFF BAJA CALIFORNIA

MEXICO CITY – A strong earthquake struck undersea early yesterday off Baja California. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The 6.7-magnitude quake struck at about 2:32 a.m. local time and was centered about 55 miles northeast of Santa Rosalia, Baja California, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was about six miles below the Sea of Cortes, also known as the Gulf of California, according to the USGS’s National Earthquake Center in Golden, Colo.

– Associated Press