World in brief

Venezuela will have no recall

CARACAS, Venezuela - Opponents of Hugo Chavez turned in 2.7-million signatures Wednesday to demand a referendum on ending his tumultuous presidency, but the Venezuelan leader vowed the only recall this year will be in California.

Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets in the first large opposition protest since a two-month general strike failed to topple the leftist leader this year, renewing a power struggle that promises more unrest in the world's No. 5 oil exporter.

In Argentina, a defiant Chavez vowed in an interview with the Associated Press to defeat any bid to remove him.

He insisted the signatures were fake, saying some belonged to dead people and others were taken from bank registries.

TOKYO - Crucial talks among six nations next week in Beijing aim to focus on North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons program. But Japan is unique in bringing another, highly emotional agenda to the table: the abduction of its citizens by North Korean spies in the 1970s and 1980s.

Japan's chief negotiator said Wednesday that Tokyo wants the talks to press North Korea on this issue, but Pyongyong says bringing up the kidnappings would disrupt sensitive negotiations that took intense diplomatic pressure by the United States to cobble together.

While acknowledging the seriousness of North Korea's potential nuclear threat, the Japanese Foreign Ministry official in charge of the negotiations said the concerns about nuclear weapons, missile development and abductions must be solved together in a "comprehensive" manner.

WASHINGTON - Libya has begun transferring to an escrow account in an international bank $2.7-billion in compensation for families of victims of Pan Am flight 103, the State Department said Wednesday.

Spokesman Richard Boucher said that because the amount of money is so large, the transfer may not be completed until today.

Libya officially agreed to the compensation package last week in response to U.N. Security Council demands. Libya also accepted responsibility for the 1988 bombing of the flight, which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland. In return, the council is due to lift sanctions against Libya that have been in place for more than a decade.

LONDON - Six years after the death of Princess Diana, the foundation stone of her memorial fountain in London was laid Wednesday by British Culture Minister Tessa Jowell.

The $4.8-million fountain in Hyde Park, designed by American architect Kathryn Gustafson, is a granite oval around which water flows, cascades and tumbles at different speeds before entering a tranquil pool.

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