World Digest
Japan bans U.S. poultry imports

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TOKYO — Japan has temporarily suspended all imports of American poultry after U.S. agriculture officials confirmed an outbreak of bird flu at a chicken farm in Delaware, the government said today.

Agriculture Minister Yoshiyuki Kamei said the "precautionary measure" was taken to prevent the spread of avian influenza.

Delaware Agriculture Secretary Michael Scuse said Friday that the bird-flu strain — identified as H7 — is different from the one that has swept Asia and isn't a threat to human health.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization said yesterday that the bird-flu virus that killed two Vietnamese sisters whose brother had died of the disease earlier did not contain human genes, meaning there is still no sign the virus has mutated into a new, more contagious form.

So far, there have been no known cases of person-to-person transmission in the current outbreak. The women and their brother apparently caught the disease while killing chickens to be served at the man's wedding.

Robbers take $3.2 million at London airport; 5 held

LONDON — Robbers handcuffed 15 workers at a cargo shed on the grounds of London's Heathrow Airport and stole $3.2 million in British pound notes, police said yesterday.

Police said they arrested five men in or near the capital in connection with the Friday night robbery and were seeking three other suspects.

The thieves took several bags of bank notes, then hijacked a van and fled, police said.

Iran reformists give up attempt to halt election
 
TEHRAN — Iran's reformists yesterday abandoned an attempt to postpone the Feb. 20 parliamentary elections from which many of their candidates have been barred.

The Guardian Council, a powerful body of clerics and Islamic lawyers, has barred more than 2,000 candidates from the Feb. 20 poll, mainly reformist allies of President Mohammad Khatami, including some 80 who hold seats in the 290-seat parliament.

Reformists accuse the Guardian Council of a bloodless coup to wrest parliament away from them after they won a huge majority in 2000. Iran's largest reformist party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, has said it will boycott the vote.

Obscene gesture in Brazil costs American $17,200

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — A second American has paid a hefty fine for making an obscene gesture during fingerprinting procedures for U.S. citizens in Brazil, police said yesterday.

Douglas Skolnick, 55, of New Jersey, will be allowed to leave the southeastern resort town of Foz do Iguacu with his tour group today after paying $17,200 for raising his middle finger when he was fingerprinted and photographed Friday.

The customs requirements were imposed in response to similar U.S. rules for citizens of Brazil and many other countries. The United States says its rules will help prevent terrorists from entering the country.

On Jan. 14, American Airlines pilot Dale Robin Hersh was arrested on the same charge after making a similar gesture when he was fingerprinted in São Paulo. He paid a $12,750 fine.

Ranchers confront Indians occupying Brazilian land

BRASÍLIA, Brazil — More than a thousand ranchers confronted Indian squatters yesterday in a standoff over prime cattle country in southern Brazil that the indigenous people say is stolen ancestral ground.

The ranchers set up loudspeakers and lights on the banks of the River Iguatemi in Mato Grosso do Sul state, facing hundreds of Guarani Indians. A January protest at the same spot left three injured after clashes with sticks and knives.

"It's simple, they have to leave what is not theirs," said Jose Maria de Oliveira, a ranch-supplies storeowner.

The Indians yesterday withdrew from 11 of 14 ranches they had "repossessed" in December after promises of land by Indian agency FUNAI.

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