The United Nations will suspend its mediation efforts between the Colombian government and Marxist rebels after two years of talks have failed to resolve the country's 40-year-old conflict, U.N. officials said yesterday.

U.N. special advisor James LeMoyne has been working with the two sides in what the world body referred to as a "good offices mission."

"Both sides agree that conditions do not now exist for a good offices mission," said a U.N. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "But they will keep the possibility open for the future."

LeMoyne was a key figure in failed peace talks between previous President Andrés Pastrana and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, in office for two years, sees the rebels as terrorists and insists they must lay down their arms before any peace process can start.

Moscow

Ukraine president pledges alliance

Ukraine's new president, visiting Moscow on his first foreign trip, pledged to maintain an eternal alliance with Russia in talks with President Vladimir Putin yesterday, but he also said his country would still look westward.

Viktor Yushchenko and Putin, emerging from 2½ hours of talks, tried to paper over their differences following the bitter tussle over the Ukrainian elections in which Moscow backed Yushchenko's rival. Putin wants to keep Ukraine in its sphere of influence instead of the European Union's.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Free drug treatment to fight AIDS begins

Using drugs sponsored primarily by President Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, Ethiopia yesterday started a program to give free antiretroviral drug treatment to 320,000 people by 2008. At least 1.5 million Ethiopians have been diagnosed with AIDS or the HIV virus that leads to AIDS.

The $15 billion U.S. program is designed to fight the pandemic in 14 countries, most of them in Africa, over five years. Ethiopia, one of the poorest nations in the world, has received $60 million so far.

Moscow

Lawmakers want to ban Jewish groups

About 20 nationalist Russian lawmakers called yesterday for a sweeping investigation aimed at outlawing all Jewish organizations and punishing officials who support them. They accused Jews of fomenting ethnic hatred and said they provoke anti-Semitism.

Jewish leaders have praised President Vladimir Putin's government for encouraging religious tolerance, but rights groups accuse the authorities of failing to prosecute the perpetrators of anti-Semitic and racial violence.

Russia's chief rabbi, Berel Lazar, said lawmakers were looking for support "by playing the anti-Semitic card."

The prosecutor general's office could not immediately be reached for comment on the request, which the Interfax news agency said was signed by lawmakers from the nationalist Rodina and Liberal Democratic parties as well as the Communist Party.

Samui, Thailand

Tourist boat capsizes after party; seven dead

A boat packed with tourists returning from a full-moon beach party capsized today in the Gulf of Thailand. At least seven people died, including four Westerners.

About 30 of some 40 people aboard were reported rescued.

The boat sank at dawn while coming back to Samui from Pa Ngan island, where thousands gather at every full moon for an alcohol- and drug-fueled party.