Oxfam investigates tsunami aid theft

London

International aid group Oxfam is investigating the possible theft of tens of thousands of dollars in tsunami funds by its staff or contractors in Indonesia.

The British-based agency said today it has suspended some operations, including house construction, while it conducts an inquiry at one of its offices in the northern province of Aceh, the region that bore the brunt of the disaster, which slammed into a dozen Indian Ocean nations on Dec. 26, 2004, leaving about 170,000 dead or missing in Aceh and another 500,000 homeless.

"It's basic theft. We are not giving any more details as the audit investigation has only just begun," Oxfam spokesman Brendan Cox said.

Milosevic's remains come home to rest

The remains of Slobodan Milosevic, the Balkans war-crimes defendant who led Serbia into a decade of vicious war, arrived in Belgrade on Wednesday with minimal fanfare, but supporters moved to arrange a last hurrah.

The plane carrying his body from the Netherlands, where he had been on trial for war crimes when he died over the weekend, was not met at the airport by any government representative. The coffin, wrapped in plastic, slid down a conveyor belt from the belly of the jet and sat untouched for a few minutes under a light snow while airport workers inspected customs documents.

A clutch of associates from Milosevic's powerful past finally approached and placed a Serbian flag and roses over the casket. Then they quietly carried it to a commercial hearse.

Several hundred mourners lined part of the road and tossed carnations, and supporters waved red party flags and clutched photos of the former leader when the vehicle reached the St. Sava Hospital morgue.

His coffin will be placed inside Belgrade's Museum of the Revolution today for two days of public viewing, according to officials from his Socialist Party of Serbia. He will be buried Saturday in his own residential compound in Pozarevac, his hometown 50 miles east of Belgrade.

Tokyo

4 more suspected in suicide pact

Four people suspected of committing group suicide were found dead inside a parked car Wednesday, officials said. The report follows a surge of such deaths arranged over the Internet — though it wasn't immediately clear how the latest group of people met.

The bodies of three men and one woman, all believed to be in their 30s, were found in a car parked on a mountain road in Shizuoka, 100 miles west of Tokyo, police said. Authorities suspect suicide and said the four died from fumes as several charcoal burners were found inside the car, which had its windows sealed with tape, according to Kyodo News agency.

The bodies of nine people were discovered in two separate cases of group suicide last week. In one case, three people died after inhaling charcoal fumes in a car. Ninety-one people died in 34 Internet-linked suicide cases last year, the National Police Agency reported last month.

Quito, Ecuador

President defies trade protesters

Ecuadorean President Alfredo Palacio vowed Wednesday he would not yield to Indian protesters who are demanding that he end free-trade talks.

Police fired tear gas at thousands of Indians who have blocked roads with burning tires and rubble in eight central provinces since Monday to press their demands, which pose the biggest challenge to Ecuador's stability since Palacio took office 10 months ago after Congress fired his predecessor.

The demonstrations have gathered force as hundreds of Indians walked down from hamlets in the Andes mountains to join the blockades. They say a trade deal will put them at a disadvantage with U.S. farmers and disrupt their culture.

China: Abducted kids didn't go to U.S.

The Chinese government says an investigation found that no children involved in a recent baby-trafficking case were adopted by American families, a U.S. State Department official said Wednesday.

The U.S. government asked the official China Center for Adoption Affairs to investigate after state media said abducted babies were sold to welfare homes in the southern city of Hengyang and later adopted by foreign couples. The United States is the leading destination for Chinese babies adopted abroad.

Compiled from The Associated Press, Reuters and The Washington Post