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World in brief

Pope gives silent blessing

By wire services
Published March 24, 2005

VATICAN CITY - A gaunt-looking Pope John Paul II made another silent appearance from his apartment window before his worried flock Wednesday, giving his blessing to thousands in St. Peter's Square, where many wept at the sight of his battle with health problems during Holy Week.

The appearance lasted about one minute, far short of the hour-plus audiences the pontiff traditionally held with the faithful on Wednesdays.

The Vatican's announcement Tuesday that there would be no audience fueled apprehension that John Paul may have suffered setbacks since Feb. 24 surgery to insert a breathing tube in his throat. He last spoke to the public March 13, shortly before leaving the hospital.

Holy Week, which culminates this Sunday on Easter, draws big crowds to Rome for the ceremonies, which until this year have been presided over by John Paul. But except for an Easter blessing, the pope has designated cardinals to lead this week's events.

"I don't believe that the situation is alarming," Cardinal Pio Laghi told reporters in Rome.

"For sure, the doctors protect him" from doing more than is advisable, Laghi said. "Certainly, he wanted to leave Gemelli (hospital) ahead of time. For him, this Holy Week is truly a week of sacrifice, and he relives it with passion."

After an unexplained 15-minute delay Wednesday, the curtains in a window of the papal apartment were drawn open, and John Paul was wheeled to the open window.

The 84-year-old pontiff appeared touched by the sight and sounds of thousands cheering below, and smiled. Pilgrims from the pope's Polish homeland sang and waved their nation's flag. Spanish youths interrupted their singing for the blessing. Some young people jumped up and down in joy to see him at the window.

Others in the square wept or dabbed at tears. One woman embraced a young girl at the sight of the struggling pontiff.

POTSDAM, Germany - German officials plan next week to bury the ashes of thousands of people killed in the Nazis' Sachsenhausen concentration camp after the ashes were discovered during work at the site, the director of the camp memorial said Wednesday.

Archaeologists last year found a layer of ashes up to 5 feet thick underneath a concrete memorial constructed near the camp's former crematorium by East Germany's former communist authorities. Director Guenter Morsch said it was impossible to establish the number or identities of the victims whose cremated remains were found, but he estimated "there are tens of thousands."

Some 200,000 people were interned at Sachsenhausen, north of Berlin, between 1936 and 1945, and tens of thousands died.

KABUL, Afghanistan - U.S. warplanes killed five suspected Taliban or al-Qaida militants near the Pakistani border after guerrillas launched an overnight rocket and gun attack on American and Afghan military positions, officials said Wednesday.

The planes scrambled after insurgents fired at least eight rockets at a U.S. base near the city of Khost, about 90 miles south of Kabul, and turned rockets and guns against three border posts late Tuesday, the American military said.

"Coalition aircraft killed five insurgents," a military statement said, adding that U.S. troops also responded with artillery fire from their base near Khost. No U.S. or allied forces were hurt, it said.

Mohammed Nawab, a senior Afghan commander in Khost, blamed Taliban or al-Qaida militants for the attacks.

BOGOTA, Colombia - Communist rebels in southern Colombia ambushed a military convoy on Wednesday, killing 10 soldiers in a hail of gunfire and explosions, authorities said.

The troops were traveling by truck on a remote jungle road in Putumayo state, one of Colombia's biggest cocaine-producing regions, said Adm. Mauricio Soto, the Colombian navy commander.

USHIKU, Japan - Chess legend Bobby Fischer was freed today after nearly nine months in a Japanese detention center. He was to catch an afternoon flight to Denmark en route to Iceland.

He was accompanied by his fiancee, Miyoko Watai, the head of Japan's chess association, and officials from the Icelandic Embassy.

Iceland's Parliament on Monday awarded citizenship to Fischer, who is wanted in the United States for violating sanctions imposed on the former Yugoslavia by playing a match 1992.

Fischer was taken into custody by Japanese immigration officials in July when he tried to leave using an invalid U.S. passport.

It wasn't clear if going to Iceland would help Fischer avoid extradition to the United States. Iceland has an extradition treaty with Washington.

[Last modified March 24, 2005, 01:21:06]