World Digest
Six aboard plane missing in Afghanistan

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It said troops and planes were scouring an area of the Hindu Kush mountains, from where it had received a signal from an emergency locator transmitter.

The contractor-operated plane took off from the main U.S. base at Bagram, north of Kabul, on Saturday, but never arrived at its undisclosed destination or any other airfield.

It was unclear if the missing aircraft had crashed, and a spokesman for the military said officials had not given up hope of finding the three soldiers and three crew members alive.

The contractor-operated plane took off from the main U.S. base at Bagram, north of the capital, on Saturday.

Cairo, Egypt

In video, bin Laden aide says fight goes on

Osama bin Laden's top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, vowed in a videotape aired yesterday on Al Jazeera television to keep fighting the United States until Washington changed its policies.

In a video apparently made before the U.S. presidential election, al-Zawahri offered Americans "one last advice," adding, "I am sure that they will not heed it."

"You have to choose between one of two methods to deal with Muslims: either on mutual respect and exchange of interests, or to deal with them as if they are spoils of war," al-Zawahri said. "This is your problem and you have to choose yourself. You have to realize that we are a nation of patience and endurance. We will stand firm to fight you with God's help until doomsday."

The United States has offered a $25 million reward for the capture of bin Laden and al-Zawahri, who are believed to be hiding in the border area of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
 
Bogotá, Colombia

Official downplays talk of plot to kill Bush

Colombia's government backpedaled on a sensational claim made by Defense Minister Jorge Uribe that Marxist rebels wanted to assassinate President Bush during a state visit last week.

Interior and Justice Minister Sabas Pretelt played down the comments yesterday, saying he had no information about any assassination plot against Bush.

Uribe refused to elaborate on his earlier comments, but his spokeswoman indicated he had either misspoken or been misunderstood. "[The rebels] wanted to make a noise because of Bush's visit, that's to say to place a bomb in Cartagena or something like that," Daisy Canon said. "But a structured plan, with details to attack Bush — that we don't know about."

Havana

Three Cuban dissidents released; one in ill health

Three of the original 75 dissidents arrested in a broad crackdown in April 2003 were released yesterday without warning, according to friends, relatives and local rights activists.

Those freed on parole included economics writer Oscar Espinosa Chepe, who had been hospitalized behind bars for months with a liver ailment, Marcelo Lopez and Margarito Broche.

It was not immediately clear if all those released yesterday were ailing, but seven dissidents released in recent months were all freed for medical reasons.

Bucharest, Romania

Opposition claims elections fraudulent

Romania's opposition yesterday accused the government of busing its supporters around the country to vote several times in weekend parliamentary and presidential elections.

Results released by the Central Electoral Bureau, based on two-thirds of the total count, gave the governing Social Democratic Party more than 36 percent in Sunday's election, followed by the centrist Justice and Truth Alliance's 32 percent.

The figures leave both parties without a majority in parliament and in need of a partner for a coalition government. The presidential race also was close, requiring a runoff vote Dec. 12 between Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, with 40 percent, and his main challenger, Traian Basescu, with about 34 percent. Twelve candidates ran for president.

ALSO

An official of the state-owned Chinese mine where a gas explosion Sunday killed 63 miners said yesterday it was impossible for 103 missing miners to have survived because there is no air in the area where they are trapped.

Detained Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in custody since May, has been told she will be held under house arrest at least until September, a spokesman for her political party said yesterday.