World in brief

Reports point to renewed fighting in Congo

KINSHASA, Congo - Congo intends to send 10,000 reinforcements toward its eastern border with Rwanda, a presidential spokesman said Monday, after credible reports that thousands of Rwandan troops crossed into its territory, raising fears of reigniting a devastating five-year regional war.

The Associated Press, quoting an unnamed Western diplomat, reported Monday that thousands of Rwandan troops moved into the remote forested hills of east Congo - an account supported by park rangers and local chiefs near the border of the two neighbors.

Rwanda refused to confirm or deny the reported incursion, and the U.N. mission in Congo said U.N. helicopter patrols and other sorties had failed to turn up any immediate sign of Rwandan troops.

BEIJING - Sixty-three mine workers were confirmed dead and more than 100 still missing, the government said Tuesday, as toxic fumes unleashed from an explosion at a coal mine in central China slowed rescuers.

The recovery of "more than 20" additional bodies brought the number of confirmed dead in Sunday's blast in the Chenjiashan Coal Mine in the central province of Shaanxi to 63, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Hopes were fading for 103 miners still missing.

BERLIN - Al-Qaida's chief ideologue said in a videotape broadcast on Arab TV Monday that the United States needed to change its policies toward Islamic countries or "we will continue fighting you until the last hour."

The statement was the third issued since September by Ayman Zawahri, an Egyptian physician and the top deputy to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. It was aired one month after bin Laden delivered a similar video message four days before the U.S. presidential election. References in Zawahri's message suggested it was recorded some time ago.

In one excerpt shown on Al-Jazeera, Zawahri warned Americans that it did not matter who they chose as president. "Vote for whoever you want: Bush or Kerry or the devil himself," he said on the tape, echoing a line from bin Laden's pre-election speech. "This does not concern us. Our concern is to purify our countries from aggressors and to stand up to whoever attacks us."

JERUSALEM - A local Hamas leader indicated Monday the militant group would not attack Israelis during the Palestinian presidential campaign and would consider a formal truce with Israel in the latest signs of hope for renewed peace efforts in the region.

However, just hours after Sheik Hassan Yousef spoke, two Hamas militants were killed while trying to attack an Israeli military outpost in Gaza, and another Hamas official said there was no such truce.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and a crucial coalition partner were locked in an angry budget standoff that could bring down the government and delay its planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

U.N. VOTE ON HAITI: The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Monday to keep U.N. peacekeepers in Haiti for six months and called for increased aid for the impoverished nation.

World and national headlines

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times 490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 Contact the Times | Privacy Policy Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright