Explosions, gunfire rock refugee camp

Bomb explosions and machine-gun fire rocked a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon today after clashes between Lebanese troops and Islamic extremists killed two Lebanese soldiers and wounded three.

The fighting began with extremists from the group Jund al-Sham firing on Lebanese troops stationed outside the Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp.

The clashes in southern Lebanon came as Lebanese troops pressed ahead with an offensive against another group, Fatah Islam, in Nahr el-Bared, a refugee camp in the northern part of the country.

The fighting had erupted on and off since late Sunday at Ein el-Hilweh, Lebanon's largest refugee camp in this southern provincial capital.

Lebanese troops returned fire during the nighttime.

There was no official word on militant casualties from the fighting, which sent dozens of families from the camp — a small town of winding, narrow streets with its own schools, clinics and markets — fleeing to Sidon.

Freetown, Sierra Leone

Copter crash kills at least 20

A helicopter ferrying passengers to Sierra Leone's main airport crashed late Sunday, bursting into flames and killing at least 20 people, local radio stations and a witness at the airport said.

One station, Kalleone FM, said 22 people died, including a pilot who jumped from the helicopter as it crashed at the airport. A witness at the airport, who asked not to be identified, confirmed the crash and said its two pilots both jumped out. One survived and was hospitalized.

The witness said the helicopter burst into flames upon crashing. It was destroyed before airport firefighters could put out the flames.

Caracas, Venezuela

Anti-government protests continue

Thousands of government opponents waving Venezuelan flags marched through the capital Sunday to protest a decision by President Hugo Chávez to pull the plug on an opposition-aligned TV station.

Demonstrators made their way to the offices of the People's Defender, a government official in charge of monitoring human rights, and presented a document saying that Chávez is restricting freedom of expression by not renewing Radio Caracas Television's broadcast license.

Radio Caracas Television, or RCTV, was forced off the air May 27 after Chávez refused to renew its license, citing the channel's conduct during a failed coup in 2002 and alleged violations of broadcast laws.

In Panama, Venezuela's ambassador to the Organization of American States, Jorge Valero, defended the government's decision not to renew RCTV's license, saying the station had "infringed" on democratic principles.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to address freedom-of-expression issues in the region when she attends the OAS general-assembly meeting today, the State Department said.

Bogotá, Colombia

Rebels reject hostage release

Colombia's largest rebel group Sunday rejected a government plan to release hundreds of accused guerrillas from prison, sinking hopes it would prompt insurgents to free their own hostages.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, said the 200 prisoners the government plans to free in the next week were "deserters" who had "betrayed the FARC" or were innocent civilians falsely accused of being rebels.

The rebels also said President Alvaro Uribe's government was trying to distract attention from several scandals, including an illegal spying program and links between Uribe's supporters in Congress and far-right death squads.

Uribe has said that those freed must leave the insurgency and promise not to return to crime.

It was the first public comment by the FARC, Latin America's largest rebel army, since the government moved about 200 imprisoned guerrillas from prisons to a temporary holding center Friday.

The FARC is demanding the government free more than 1,000 of its fighters, including two commanders held in the U.S., in return for the release of its hostages, among them former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three kidnapped U.S. defense contractors.

Seattle Times news services