World in brief

Afghan rivals fight after truce

CHAR GUMBAZ, Afghanistan - A day after rival warlords agreed to a cease-fire, skirmishes broke out between their soldiers Friday, threatening the truce that followed the bloodiest fighting in months in northern Afghanistan.

The skirmishes came two days after fighting that reportedly killed more than 60 troops.

Gen. Majid Rozi, a commander loyal to northern Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, denied there was any new fighting, saying only that "sporadic shooting" was reported in the region.

But Gen. Abdul Sabur, top commander of Dostum's archrival, Atta Mohammed, said fighting broke out in two places west of Mazar-e-Sharif.

VATICAN CITY - A top Vatican cardinal's claim that condoms don't protect against the virus that causes AIDS was criticized by the U.N. health agency Friday as "totally wrong."

The disagreement arose after Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, head of the Pontifical Council for the Family, told the British Broadcasting Corp. that HIV is small enough to pass through a condom.

A World Health Organization spokeswoman said any claim that condoms don't protect against HIV is "totally wrong."

"It is quite dangerous to claim the contrary when you realize that today we are facing an epidemic which has already killed 20-million people and 42-million people are infected today," Fadela Chaib said.

DIALYSIS FOR THE POPE?: Pope John Paul II could undergo kidney dialysis to cleanse his body of drugs he is taking for Parkinson's disease, Italian news agency AGI said Friday. A Vatican official said the report "seemed correct," but would offer no details. Later, papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls denied the pope was undergoing dialysis.

SEOUL, South Korea - Top aides to President Roh Moo Hyun resigned on Saturday amid a crisis over Roh's leadership, a South Korean news agency reported.

The Yonhap agency quoted presidential press secretary Lee Byung Wan as saying the aides had offered to resign. Yonhap also said Cabinet ministers expressed willingness to resign.

Roh's approval ratings plummeted after corruption scandals involving his aides.

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