North Korea's demands for what it should receive in exchange for abandoning its nuclear-weapons program snarled talks yesterday, but the U.S. envoy maintained that "things are moving," with more negotiations planned today.

The negotiations ended their sixth day without an agreement on a Chinese-drafted proposal, and South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon said talks focused on "what corresponding measures other parties will take" in return for an agreement by the North to dismantle its nuclear-weapons program.

The North has demanded concessions such as security guarantees and aid from Washington before it eliminates its weapons program, while the United States wants to see the arms destroyed first. The North has also insisted that it be allowed to run a peaceful nuclear-power program, something Washington objects to out of proliferation concerns.

Jerusalem

Israel threatens retaliation over Gaza

Israel would suspend its Gaza withdrawal and launch a massive ground offensive if Palestinian militants attack Israeli soldiers and settlers during the pullout, the deputy defense minister said yesterday in outlining the military's plans for the first time.

The threat came less than three weeks before the start of the evacuation, which will mark the first time Israel has removed veteran settlements from the West Bank and Gaza. The first families to be uprooted from Gaza moved into temporary homes yesterday.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said repeatedly that the pullout from Gaza cannot be carried out under Palestinian fire. But he has made it clear Israel would stop the gunfire, not the pullout.

While the Palestinian Authority is interested in a smooth handover of the volatile territory, groups like Hamas want to step up their attacks in an attempt to give the impression that Israelis are fleeing from the Palestinians.

Mexico City

U.S. tourist shot near Mexican border

A policeman fatally shot a U.S. tourist in increasingly violent northern Mexico in an apparent accident, a state official said yesterday.

A Mexican policeman shot the woman as she drove in a pickup early Saturday morning with two companions near the industrial city of Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, said Chihuahua state spokesman Fernando Sandoval.

The police officer, who has been taken into custody, said his rifle fired as he lost his balance when the vehicle nearly backed into him, Sandoval said. Several police officers had surrounded the pickup, which had apparently tried to evade a checkpoint.

Tegucigalpa, Honduras

13-year-olds arrested in DEA agent's death

A gang member and his bodyguard, both 13, have been arrested in the killing of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent during an apparent bungled robbery, a Honduran official yesterday.

DEA Special Agent Timothy Markey was shot to death on Friday while on vacation visiting a popular Roman Catholic shrine in Tegucigalpa.

The suspects were identified as Erlan Colindres, who has escaped three times from correctional centers, and his bodyguard, Manuel Romero. Police described both as seasoned gang members.

Honduran authorities are struggling to combat high rates of violent crime, much of it involving ruthless youth gangs, known as maras. The Mara Salvatrucha and rival Mara 18 have about 100,000 members and control poor neighborhoods in Honduras' principal cities.