North Korea blast shown on TV

International television crews were flown to reclusive North Korea on Friday to witness the destruction of the cooling tower at the country's main nuclear-weapons plant.

Televising the demolition of the conical, 60-foot-high tower had been suggested by North Korea, whose leader Kim Jong Il is a cinema buff famous for his flair for the theatrical.

The state news agency in North Korea, however, carried no information about the event on Friday, and let a full day pass before it let its people know that President Bush had removed it from the United States' list of countries that sponsor terrorism. It couched that development in propaganda, warning that Washington had not yet fully abandoned its "hostile policy" toward the North.

North Korea-watchers in neighboring South Korea and China say this week's deal appeared to have emerged from the shifting dynamics between North Korea's reform-oriented civilian officials and hard-line military leaders. If the civilian leadership keeps the upper hand, that could foreshadow a more robust pace of change in the country's deeply impoverished economy, they say.

Washington

U.S. nuclear arms pulled from U.K.

The United States has withdrawn its nuclear weapons from Britain more than 50 years after it first deployed atomic bombs there, a watchdog group says.

The Federation of American Scientists (FAS), a public-policy group based in Washington, said 110 nuclear bombs once deployed at the Royal Air Force's Lakenheath air base, 70 miles northeast of London, are now gone. It is unclear when they were removed.

FAS says the United States still has nuclear weapons at two U.S. bases abroad — Aviano in Italy and Incirlik in Turkey — as well as at bases controlled by the governments of Belgium, Germany, Holland and Italy.

Niamey, Niger

Uranium-rich area's rebels fight troops

Government troops clashed with ethnic Tuareg rebels in the northwest African nation of Niger Friday, leaving at least 17 people dead, according to statements by both sides.

The Tuareg rebel group, the Niger Movement for Justice, accuses the government of reneging on promises to improve economic opportunities for the nomadic Tuareg people and of trying to push the blue-robed nomads off uranium-rich lands so the state can profit.

Bucharest, Romania

Rape victim, 11, to get abortion

An 11-year-old pregnant girl allegedly raped by her uncle will travel to Britain for an abortion despite a government ruling that the procedure can take place in Romania.

Ignoring pressure from a number of religious groups, a government committee ruled Friday that the girl could have an abortion in Romania even though her 21-week pregnancy is beyond the 14-week limit set by law. Abortions can only be carried out later than 14 weeks in Romania to save the life of the mother.

Also

Storm off Mexico: Tropical Storm Boris has formed off Mexico's Pacific Coast, but was 645 miles south of Baja California late Friday and not threatening land.

Indian Ocean quake: A 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck off India's Andaman Islands on Friday, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, officials and police said.

Hail damage: Hail the size of pingpong balls damaged some 30,000 new vehicles at a Volkswagen plant in northern Germany, a company spokesman said Friday.

Seattle Times news services