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World in brief

5 Afghan antiopium workers killed

By wire services
Published May 19, 2005

KABUL, Afghanistan - Suspected Taliban militants on Wednesday killed five Afghans working on a U.S.-funded project to help end opium farming, and a man claiming to have abducted an Italian aid worker threatened to kill her - part of a surge in anti-Western violence apparently aimed at undermining Afghanistan's recovery.

Italian Clementina Cantoni was in "critical condition" from injuries she suffered when four armed men dragged her from her car in Kabul, where she works for CARE International, said the purported kidnapper, who called himself Temur Shah.

On TV, he threatened to kill Cantoni unless the government met his demands, which included more Islamic boarding schools being built and authorities helping farmers find alternatives to growing opium.

PETRA, Jordan - Elie Wiesel, the Dalai Lama and other Nobel Prize laureates on Wednesday debated solutions to challenges facing the modern world in an ancient locale: the rose red city of Petra, carved out 2,000 years ago.

The meeting's host, Jordan's King Abdullah II, challenged participants to come up with a fresh approach to problems like terrorism, extremism and violence.

The two-day conference, "A World in Danger," is co-sponsored by Wiesel's New York-based Foundation for Humanity and brings together politicians, scientists, economists and humanitarians, including 25 Nobel Prize winners. Former President Bill Clinton was expected to join the meeting today.

BOGOTA, Colombia - Authorities arrested three Colombians, including a former serviceman, and accused them of helping American soldiers smuggle cocaine to the United States aboard a U.S. military aircraft, officials said Wednesday.

Five U.S. military personnel were previously arrested in the case, which sparked widespread anger in Colombia. One suspect has since been released, but the others are held at an undisclosed location in the United States.

The detained Colombians are a retired air force officer and two civilians, the Colombian air force said in a statement. It provided no details on their alleged role in the drug trafficking plot.

The case emerged when U.S. military officials discovered a shipment of more than 30 pounds of cocaine aboard a U.S. military plane that flew to El Paso, Texas, from Colombia's Apiay air base on March 28.

IMPERIAL WEDDING: Princess Sayako, the only daughter of Japan's emperor and empress, will get married in November, palace officials said Wednesday. Sayako, 36, was engaged in March to 40-year-old Tokyo City Hall employee Yoshiki Kuroda.

RUSSIAN TRIAL: The reading of the verdict in the Moscow trial of oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky dragged into a third day Wednesday with the statement so far pointing toward a guilty decision.

SPAIN OKAYS CHARTER: Spain's Senate ratified the new European Union constitution Wednesday, making it the ninth country to approve the document. All 25 EU members must ratify it.

[Last modified May 19, 2005, 00:44:07]