The 19-year-old who killed four Israeli Arabs on a bus deserted the army to protest Israel's impending withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and took refuge in a militant Jewish settlement with his military-issued rifle.

Israeli security forces missed that and other warning signs — including a plea by his father to find him — raising questions about Israel's ability to rein in Jewish extremists.

Thousands joined funeral processions yesterday for the four slain residents of the Arab-Israeli town of Shfaram.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Cheney consoles, confers with king

A U.S. delegation led by Vice President Dick Cheney paid respects yesterday to King Abdullah, a visit intended to show the importance Washington attaches to close ties with oil power Saudi Arabia.

Cheney, former President Bush and former Secretary of State Colin Powell offered condolences on the death Monday of the new monarch's half brother, King Fahd.

Reporters were barred from the meeting at the king's farm outside Riyadh, but the official Saudi Press Agency said the two sides discussed Iraq, bilateral relations and the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Cheney invited Abdullah to visit President Bush at the White House, the agency said.

Spain's King Juan Carlos also met yesterday with Abdullah, who embraced him warmly in footage broadcast on Spanish television. Juan Carlos was a longtime friend of Fahd.

Dublin, Ireland

IRA-linked trainers back from Colombia

Three men linked to the Irish Republican Army who were convicted of training rebels in Colombia have returned surreptitiously to Ireland, eight months after going on the run.

RTE, the Irish national broadcasters, carried an interview with one of the fugitives, Jim Monaghan. He said all three had returned to Ireland recently, "and, as you can imagine, a lot of people in a lot of countries had to help us."

Colombia's vice president immediately demanded the Irish government extradite the three, saying Ireland had the "legal and moral obligation" to do so, even though the two countries do not have an extradition treaty.

Tokyo

Privatizing of bank set for showdown

A plan to privatize Japan's huge postal savings system and create the world's largest bank cleared its last parliamentary committee yesterday, setting the stage for a political showdown that could overturn the government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

Staking his political future on passing the plan as a centerpiece of his economic policy, Koizumi suggested he will dissolve Parliament's lower house and call nationwide elections if the upper house rejects the package.

With approval by the upper house's postal reform committee, the reform bills head for a floor vote Monday amid resistance from a unified opposition and some members of Koizumi's own governing party, who say privatization would lead to postal layoffs and unfair competition for other banks.

Also

Gunmen killed Leopoldo Ramos Trevino, a city council member, and his bodyguard as they drove to work yesterday, the latest attack on a high-ranking official in the increasingly lawless border city of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. The killings brought the number of slayings in Nuevo Laredo this year to 108, most of them tied to drug trafficking.

Compiled from The Associated Press, The Dallas Morning News and Reuters