Egyptian police arrested four leading members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood and rounded up 200 others yesterday during nationwide protests, including one in which an Islamist died.

The sole serious challenger to President Hosni Mubarak in this year's presidential race, meanwhile, said he is considering withdrawing his candidacy because of restrictions on potential candidates. Ayman Nour, who heads the opposition al-Ghad Party, also accused the ruling party of trying to assassinate him in a mob attack the night before that he said killed one of his supporters.

Yesterday's protests demanding political reform marked the second day this week of demonstrations by the Muslim Brotherhood. Demonstrators also demanded the release of hundreds of people detained after rallies on Wednesday.

Abdel-Galil el-Sharnoubi, editor of the group's Web site, said more than 10,000 people demonstrated in different cities.

The Interior Ministry confirmed the arrest of the four leaders and 200 Brotherhood supporters in four Egyptian cities, including Cairo, saying they were arrested after refusing to disperse and "demonstrating in a way that harms security considerations."

The statement said one demonstrator in the Nile Delta town of Talkha died in a stampede after police used tear gas to disperse some 2,000 protesters who threw stones that injured 30 police.

Punta Del Este, Uruguay

"Dirty" chemical list may be expanded

Countries at a U.N. meeting agreed yesterday to consider adding four chemicals to the "dirty dozen" list of banned pesticides and industrial chemicals, a U.N. official said.

The weeklong meeting that concluded yesterday also sought to reduce the legal exemptions included in the 2004 U.N. ban on the world's most hazardous substances blamed for deaths, cancer or birth defects in humans and animals.

But exemptions for some toxins such as DDT were maintained to allow their use to combat deadly insects.

Xi'an, China

Move aims to combat Taiwanese activists

A Taiwanese opposition leader made a pilgrimage yesterday to a monument honoring China's legendary founder, calling for reconciliation between Taipei and Beijing based on their common cultural roots.

The visit by James Soong, head of the People First Party, is part of Chinese efforts to combat Taiwanese activists who want formal independence for the self-ruled island, which Beijing claims as its territory.

"People on both sides are as close as brothers and sisters," Soong said outside the monument to the Yellow Emperor, who is credited with inventing coins and other elements of Chinese culture millennia ago.

Soong arrived Thursday, two days after Nationalist Party Chairman Lien Chan, the leader of Taiwan's biggest opposition group, ended a historic mainland tour. Both Soong's and Lien's parties oppose independence for Taiwan, which split with China in 1949.

Jerusalem

Patriarch dismissed over land controversy

The Greek Orthodox Church Synod, the church's highest decision-making body in the Holy Land, dismissed Patriarch Irineos I yesterday over his alleged role in a land deal that angered Palestinian Christians, church officials said.

The patriarch has been under attack over a deal in which church property in Jerusalem was leased to a Jewish group.

Such land transactions, while legal, are politically explosive because Palestinians see them as abetting Jews in their efforts to expand their presence in east Jerusalem. Palestinians consider that sector of the city as capital of their future state, while Jews claim the entire city as their eternal capital.