BERLIN - Some 5,000 residents of a Berlin suburb were evacuated from their homes Saturday while explosives experts defused a 550-pound U.S. bomb believed dropped during the last months of World War II, police said.
Much of downtown Potsdam was sealed off and hundreds of stores and businesses were closed to allow for the removal of the bomb, which was found during excavation work on the grounds of a hospital.
Nearly 500 of the hospital's patients were brought to a gymnasium for about six hours while disposal experts defused the bomb, police said. Other residents waited in schools and other gymnasiums.
Potsdam is the capital of Brandenburg state, which surrounds Berlin, and is the former residence of Prussian kings.
Based on historical records, city officials believe the bomb was dropped in April 1945, about a month before the war's end.
Nearly 60 years after the end of World War II, unexploded bombs dropped during Allied air raids across Germany are still discovered and disposed of.
Pope repeats concern about embargoes on Cuba
VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II on Saturday reiterated concern about the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba, while encouraging openness on the communist-run island.
The pope met Saturday with Cuba's new ambassador to the Vatican, Raul Roa Kouri, and the pontiff's remarks were provided in a statement.
"The Holy See wishes ardently that the obstacles that currently impede free communication and exchange between Cuba and the international community may be overcome as soon as possible, thus consolidating, by means of a respectful and open dialogue among all, the conditions necessary for genuine development," the pope said.
The pontiff also made several references to a wish for greater dialogue on the island.
The Vatican is against economic embargoes for political purposes, including the U.S. embargo against Havana.
Toll in head-on Italian train wreck hits 17, dozens hurt
BOLOGNINA DI CREVALCORE, Italy - Rescue workers on Saturday pried apart the mangled remains of two trains that collided head-on in northern Italy, finding four more bodies one day after the crash, firefighters said, raising the death toll to 17.
The force of the crash, which occurred Friday in heavy fog on the Bologna-Verona line, left one carriage standing on end nearly perpendicular with the tracks.
Officials believe the driver of the passenger train did not stop at a red light, leading to the crash with a freight train in Bolognina di Crevalcore, north of Bologna, prosecutor Enrico Cieri said.
"But it is much too early to speak about human error," he said, quoted by the ANSA news agency. One possibility was that the driver was unable to see the warning light through the mist. Officials also were carrying out drug and alcohol tests on the remains of drivers who were killed, the report said.
Rescue officials searching the twisted metal wreck discovered four more bodies on Saturday, the fire department in Rome said. Workers were forced to cut apart crushed train cars to search inside.
Dozens of people were injured, most of them lightly. Five people were still hospitalized, medical officials said.
Afghan judge arrested on suspicion of bombing links
KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan authorities have arrested a judge for allegedly harboring the organizers of two bombings last year that killed about 12 people, including four Americans, and believe the ringleaders took their orders from an Iraqi member of al-Qaida, a senior official said Saturday.
The purported link to Osama bin Laden's terror network follows warnings from the U.S. military that foreign militants - mostly believed to have found refuge in neighboring Pakistan - were still operating in Afghanistan, three years after the start of America's war on terror.
Gen. Abdul Fatah, a senior Afghan prosecutor, said a preliminary court judge called Naqibullah was detained about two weeks ago after two men accused of organizing an Aug. 29 car-bombing against U.S. security contractor Dyncorp told investigators they stayed at his house in Kabul.
Sen. John Kerry meets with Syrian president
DAMASCUS, Syria - Former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry met Saturday with Syria's president and said he was hopeful that strained U.S.-Syrian relations could be improved, provided Washington seized "a moment of opportunity" in the Middle East.
The United States has accused Syria of doing too little to stop insurgents from infiltrating into Iraq to attack coalition forces. Washington also has imposed sanctions on Damascus, accusing it of seeking weapons of mass destruction and hosting Palestinian groups Washington deems to be terrorist organizations.
Syria denies the accusations but says it cannot fully control its long, porous border with Iraq.
Sen. Kerry, D-Mass., met for two hours with President Bashar Assad, then with Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa.
Also ...
PAKISTAN VIOLENCE KILLS 11: A Shiite Muslim cleric was ambushed Saturday as he drove through the once serene Himalayan tourist destination of Gilgit, setting off a rampage of sectarian violence and arson that left at least 11 people dead, including a family of six that was burned alive in its home. Authorities imposed an indefinite 24-hour curfew and army troops patrolled Gilgit to contain the violence.
INDIAN FORCES END KASHMIR BATTLE: Indian security forces killed the last rebel holed up inside a government office Saturday, ending a two-day battle during which guerrillas took over the building and set it on fire with dozens of employees inside, authorities said. Eight people - two civilians, three security men and three militants - were killed during the clash.
RUSSIAN POLICE KILL 5 IN SHOOTOUT: More than 100 police and security agents backed by five armored personnel carriers surrounded a house Saturday in the restive southern Russian region of Ingushetia and killed five alleged militants in a shootout, the Interior Ministry said. The suspects had resisted capture, opening fire with automatic weapons and throwing grenades, said Yuri Smolyaninov, a spokesman for the regional branch of the Federal Security Service. He said the special operation to eliminate the militants was completed by Saturday afternoon. They were suspected in the June attacks on Ingush police installations, in which about 90 people were killed, said a duty officer in the Russian Interior Ministry.
