Israeli troops staged a brief raid yesterday into Tulkarem, re-entering the northern West Bank town for the first time since returning it to Palestinian control in March.

Palestinian officials said Israeli special forces entered Tulkarem before dawn and arrested Mohammed Shalhoub, 18. The Palestinians condemned the incursion as a violation of the handover agreement.

Israeli military officials said Shalhoub was an Islamic Jihad member preparing an imminent suicide attack against Israelis.

Israel pledged to turn over five West Bank towns to Palestinian security control as part of a Feb. 8 cease-fire agreement, but only Tulkarem and Jericho have actually been transferred. Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said last week he was putting further handovers on hold until the Palestinian Authority fulfilled a pledge to disarm the two towns.

Jerusalem

Israeli, Palestinian killed in shootout

An Israeli soldier and a Palestinian militant were killed in a shootout early today, the army said, when Israeli troops raided a village near the West Bank town of Tulkarem, which they'd re-entered over the weekend for the first time since returning it to Palestinian control in March.

Palestinian officials condemned yesterday's incursion into Tulkarem as a violation of agreements between the two sides. The shootout today took place in the nearby village of Seideh.

Palestinian security officials said Israeli special forces entered Tulkarem before dawn yesterday and arrested 18-year-old Mohammed Shalhoub. Israeli military officials said Shalhoub was an Islamic Jihad militant preparing an imminent suicide attack against Israelis and had already filmed the video testament often left by suicide bombers.

Shalhoub's sister Manar was shot dead three years ago as she attempted to stab an Israeli soldier.

Also today, Cabinet minister Natan Sharansky, a frequent critic of Israel's peace moves with the Palestinians, submitted his resignation in protest over the planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Sharansky, a former Soviet dissident whose imprisonment there made him a hero to world Jewry, wrote in a letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that he opposes making unilateral concessions to the Palestinians.

Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Hunger striker to be sent for medical care

The former prime minister for ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide will leave for the Dominican Republic today for medical treatment after resuming a hunger strike to protest his prolonged detention, the Dominican military chief said yesterday.

Yvon Neptune, who has been held without charge for 10 months in connection with political killings during the February 2004 rebellion that ousted Aristide, will be taken to a hospital in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo, the secretary of the Dominican Armed Forces, Adm. Sigfrido Pared Perez, said.

Haiti has been in turmoil since Aristide fled the country. More than 400 people have been killed since Aristide supporters in September stepped up protests to demand his return from exile in South Africa. Many fear the violence could thwart efforts to hold elections this fall.

Katmandu, Nepal

Thousands demand return of democracy

Thousands of protesters marched through Nepal's capital yesterday to demand the restoration of democracy in one of the biggest shows of opposition strength since King Gyanendra seized absolute power three months ago.

In two union-organized rallies that also were intended to commemorate the May Day workers' holiday, demonstrators carried placards calling for an end to the king's direct rule.

Early today, Nepal's government lifted the house arrest imposed on the leaders of the country's largest communist party, freeing the last of the top leaders detained after Gyanendra seized power, officials said. The monarch imposed a state of emergency Feb. 1 after he fired the government and took over absolute power. He justified the moves by saying the ousted leaders had failed to hold parliamentary elections or quell a communist insurgency.

Also

Pope appears: Pope Benedict XVI appeared at his apartment's window on St. Peter's Square yesterday for the first time in his papacy to bless 50,000 of the faithful and curious. Contrasting with the late John Paul II's last time at the studio window on March 30, when the ailing pontiff appeared in silent suffering three days before his death, the new pope sang a Latin prayer in a voice so strong it boomed across the square from the third-floor window of the Apostolic Palace.

Honduran president hurt: A small plane carrying Honduran President Ricardo Maduro went down in the Caribbean Sea near the shore yesterday after its engine failed, and Maduro was taken to a hospital with minor injuries, his spokesman said.

Train-crash toll rises: The death toll from Japan's worst train crash in four decades rose to 107 after a woman pulled from the wreckage several days ago died. Last Monday, the West Japan Railway commuter train skipped the tracks at Amagasaki, an industrial city about 250 miles west of Tokyo, and slammed into an apartment house.