World in brief

U.S.: 200 Taliban fighters are killed

KABUL, Afghanistan - The top American commander in Afghanistan said Sunday that his forces had killed as many as 200 fighters suspected of being members of the Taliban in the southern part of the country in the last two weeks. He said the military operation was part of a bid to combat a major effort by the Taliban to regroup in a bid for power.

The new details about the operation came from Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, who commands an American-led task force of 11,500 troops. Vines said the infiltration of the Taliban might include as many 1,000 fighters who had moved into the area northeast of Kandahar, the previous Taliban stronghold.

Other officers said the American attacks, including both air and ground forces, are the largest in Afghanistan in more than a year. On Saturday night alone, American airstrikes in Zabul Province, east of Kandahar, carried out with fixed-wing aircraft, killed as many as 26 Taliban fighters, the officers said.

LONDON - A Briton who was jailed in Saudi Arabia over a series of bombings said he was punched, kicked and beaten with sticks in a bid to extract a confession, according to an interview broadcast Sunday.

Alexander Mitchell, who was amnestied and released last month, told the British Broadcasting Corp.'s Frontline Scotland program he was kept awake and chained to his cell door for nine days after his arrest in December 2000.

Mitchell, 44, was arrested in two bombings in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, that killed Briton Christopher Rodway and injured four others.

Mitchell and a Canadian, William Sampson, were sentenced to death and six others were jailed. The eight detainees were released last month after being pardoned by Saudi Arabia's ruler, King Fahd.

WASHINGTON - The United States will consult with its allies about what kind of security assurances they can offer North Korea to get the communist country to end its nuclear weapons program, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday.

During recent six-nation talks in Beijing, North Korea said it would disarm if the United States would resume free oil shipments, provide economic and humanitarian aid, sign a nonaggression treaty and open diplomatic ties.

"Right now, the first challenge before us is to get North Korea to say clearly that they are prepared to give up entirely their nuclear weapons program in a verifiable manner," Powell said on ABC's This Week.

"And we know that they want from us - the only thing they have asked for from us, the United States, is some sort of security assurance," he said.

CANCUN, Mexico - As World Trade Organization ministers from around the world check into high-rise beach hotels this week, protesters meet in ramshackle offices and tent communities, fighting over how they will wage war against free trade.

The union members, Zapatista rebel sympathizers, anarchists, environmentalists and farmers cannot agree on protest tactics against the WTO, which they consider a mouthpiece for powerful nations and wealthy corporations.

But the 15,000 demonstrators expected to flood this Mexican resort agree on one thing: They want to shut the meeting down.

"We've been fighting over the goal in meetings all this week," said Jessica Pupovac of the Washington-based Rights Action, a human rights group. "Some people are flat-out scared of the Mexican police."

The 146-member WTO is striving to complete a new treaty meant to boost the world economy by further reducing barriers to trade. Yet, going into Wednesday's meeting, delegates have missed a series of negotiating deadlines and acknowledge they can only hope to cobble together a loose framework for liberalizing agricultural trade.

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