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U.S.: Attacks down sharply in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan - Attacks and firefights involving American forces in Afghanistan have decreased so much that violent contacts are now rare, the U.S. general in charge of operations in Afghanistan said Monday.

American casualties are also down in the last few months, he said.

Lt. Gen. Eric Olson, commander of Combined Joint Task Force 76, summed up U.S. military activities in Afghanistan since he arrived a year ago, saying that many previously insecure areas of the country were now safe and that Afghans seemed to have become increasingly cordial toward the American troops.

"When we arrived in the spring of 2004, we experienced 10 to 15 attacks against coalition forces each week," he said at a news briefing. "Now at this point we rarely receive more than five attacks per week." There have been 20 to 25 deaths among U.S. troops in the last year, he said.

OSLO, Norway - Three stolen works of art by Edvard Munch - including a watercolor, Blue Dress - were recovered Monday, less than 24 hours after thieves with crowbars pried them from the walls of an upscale restaurant. It was the second theft of the Norwegian master's work in less than seven months.

Iver Stensrud of the Oslo police also said several arrests had been made. He declined to be more specific or say what condition the stolen watercolor and two lithographs were in.

"We can say the artwork has been recovered," he said. "It was just good police work."

In August, priceless Munch masterpieces The Scream and Madonna were stolen from a museum in a brazen daylight raid. They have yet to be recovered.

The three pieces stolen Sunday night from the restaurant at the Hotel Refnes were valued at about $257,000.

BEIJING - A proposed Chinese antisecession law would authorize Beijing to take military action to stop rival Taiwan from pursuing formal independence if peaceful persuasion fails, a leader of China's Parliament said today.

Wang Zhaoguo, reading out the proposed law for the first time before a meeting of the figurehead National People's Congress, didn't give any details as to what specific developments might trigger Chinese military action.

A final vote on the law is scheduled for Monday. It is certain to pass: The Congress routinely approves all legislation approved by Communist Party leaders.

JIANG RETIRES: China's Parliament today approved former President Jiang Zemin's resignation from his last official post as chairman of a figurehead government military body, bringing a symbolic end to a transfer of power to a younger generation of leaders.

LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair's plans for a new antiterrorism law suffered a major setback Monday, as Parliament's upper chamber insisted that only judges should have the power to impose sweeping controls on terrorist suspects.

In a crucial House of Lords vote, peers voted 249-119 to amend the Prevention of Terrorism Bill so only courts can restrict a suspect's movements and impose curfews and other controls.

The vote was a blow to the government's plans to give a government minister the power to act swiftly against suspects without the need for a trial. Blair insists the new law is necessary to protect Britain from the threat of terrorist attack.

However, opponents argue it would erode civil liberties.

The government may try to overturn the Lords amendment when the legislation returns to the House of Commons this week but will face dissent there also from the main opposition parties and many of its own lawmakers.