U.S. sailor held in woman's death near Tokyo

The Navy is holding a U.S. sailor in confinement on suspicion of killing a Japanese woman this week near Tokyo, the U.S. military said today.

Yoshie Sato, 56, was found beaten and unconscious in Yokosuka, near Tokyo, on Tuesday, and later died. Police believe the victim was robbed on her way to work, according to news reports.

The case comes at a time when Washington and Tokyo are trying to win local support for plans to build a military airstrip in the southern island of Okinawa and base a U.S. nuclear-powered warship at Yokosuka for the first time.

The sailor, who was not identified, was being held at the base in Yokosuka pending the investigation into the killing, U.S. Naval Forces Japan said.

Prison shootout

kills 13 inmates

A shootout between inmates at Honduras' biggest prison left at least 13 inmates dead and 30 others wounded Thursday, officials said.

The confrontation began at the National Penitentiary on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa, the capital. Honduran Security Minister Armando Calidonio said police and guards had restored control at the facility, and that at least one of the wounded inmates suffered serious injuries.

He said officials had yet to determine how inmates got guns into the National Penitentiary.

at U.N. nuke meeting

A defiant Iran did not turn up for a promised meeting Thursday with the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency to discuss the country's suspect nuclear program, agency officials said.

A high-ranking Iranian delegation was supposed to meet International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohamed ElBaradei on Thursday to provide him with details of its plans to move closer to uranium enrichment, a process that can produce both fuel for nuclear energy or nuclear weapons.

"The meeting never took place," said IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming. She said ElBaradei was "still seeking clarification" of what Tehran would do Monday, when it says it will resume some work related to enrichment.

EU soldiers wound

suspect, kill wife

European Union peacekeepers shot it out with a suspected war criminal Thursday in a town in eastern Bosnia, leaving the suspect and his 12-year-old son wounded and his wife dead, officials said.

The suspect, identified as Dragomir Abazovic, 47, was in critical condition. There was no word on the boy.

A local court in Bosnia had indicted the Serbian man on war-crimes charges.

Diplomat recalled

from Venezuela

Peru recalled its ambassador from Venezuela on Thursday, accusing President Hugo Chávez of meddling in Peru's upcoming presidential race.

Peru's Foreign Minister Oscar Maurtua told Radioprogramas radio that Ambassador Carlos Urrutia had been brought home for "consultation" because Chávez's comments praising nationalist candidate Ollanta Humala constituted "interference in the internal affairs of Peru."

The Chávez government, however, denied it was playing favorites in Peru's April 9 presidential vote.

Compiled from The Associated Press