Moves into Gaza barred by army

The Israeli army yesterday barred citizens from moving into the Gaza Strip and said it would begin moving military equipment from the area over the next two weeks.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said the continued Israeli presence in Gaza is untenable, and said Israel by this summer will remove 8,200 Jewish settlers who live in heavily guarded enclaves in Gaza. But settlers have promised stiff resistance to the planned withdrawal, and Israeli security officials have expressed fears that the opposition could turn violent.

Israel TV quoted settler leaders as saying they considered the decree illegal and planned to ignore it. A military official said on condition of anonymity that there may be no effective way of knowing if someone entering the strip leaves at day's end.

Cayenne, French Guiana

$1 billion pledged for Haiti projects

World donors approved $1 billion in aid projects for Haiti yesterday, promising to repair its roads and rebuild its battered power grid in an effort to help the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation as it prepares for fall elections.

The relief is a confirmation of money pledged last summer, but diplomats attending the one-day summit said assigning specific projects to each nation would increase accountability. In July, donors pledged $1.3 billion for Haiti but less than a fifth of it has been disbursed.

Jakarta, Indonesia

Airline pilot arrested in killing of activist

Indonesian police announced the arrest yesterday of an airline pilot as a suspect in the death of prominent human-rights activist Munir Said Thalib, who died of massive arsenic poisoning in September while on a flight to Amsterdam, Netherlands.

The Garuda Indonesia pilot, Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, was traveling as a passenger on the first leg of the airliner's flight from Jakarta, Indonesia, to Singapore and gave Munir his seat in business class, authorities say.

A presidential fact-finding commission earlier concluded there was a conspiracy to kill Munir and that one or more Garuda employees probably were involved.

Seoul, South Korea

Tape seems to show North Korea executions

In a crackdown on defections and smuggling to China, the North Korean regime has conducted public executions of at least three human traffickers and possibly dozens more, according to human-rights advocates who have recently obtained a videotape.

The grainy footage is believed to show firing squads performing executions in front of large crowds in Hoeryong, a North Korean border town that has been a major transit point for tens of thousands of people escaping their impoverished homeland. Many brokers work in Hoeryong helping defectors cross the Tumen River into China and arranging illegal marriages for North Korean women with Chinese men.

Caracas, Venezuela

Foreign Ministry says talks on tap with U.S.

Venezuela and the United States have agreed to talks on "sensitive issues" to improve relations after weeks of hostile exchanges, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

The statement came after a meeting late Thursday between Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez and U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield, the envoy's first high-ranking talks with the government since he arrived six months ago.

"We agreed there are sensitive issues on which we must work, little by little, to improve relations as much as possible," Rodriguez said.

The United States is a mayor oil client of Venezuela. President Hugo Chávez has accused the Bush administration of planning to assassinate him.