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World in brief

Arubans draining lake in search for Ala. teen

By wire services
Published July 27, 2005

ORANJESTAD, Aruba - Aruban firefighters were draining a lake Tuesday in the search for an Alabama teenager who vanished nearly two months ago while vacationing in the island.

Edwin Comemencia, a police spokesman, confirmed that the draining of the lake across from the Marriott Hotel was part of the investigation into Natalee Holloway's disappearance but would not comment further. A jailed Dutch youth has said he was with Holloway in the area the night she disappeared.

The draining was expected to take up to 24 hours.

Earlier Tuesday, Holloway's stepfather, George Twitty, said two new witnesses had come forward with information about the night she disappeared.

DUSHANBE, Tajikistan - Two Central Asian countries pledged Tuesday to allow the United States to keep flight operations in their countries that are crucial to the ongoing U.S. military effort in Afghanistan.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld held separate meetings with leaders in Kyrgyzstan, who promised continued base facilities in the country, and in Tajikistan, which permits flyover, fueling and emergency operations. The assurances marked a turnaround by the countries, both of which on July 5 joined Russia, China, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in recommending a deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. and other foreign troops.

BEIJING - Negotiators on Wednesday began a second day of talks aimed at persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions after the United States and China both expressed determination to make long-awaited headway toward a settlement.

In negotiations Tuesday, Washington also assured North Korea it has no intention of attacking, and Pyongyang promised to work toward a denuclearized Korean peninsula, opening moves that indicated a shared goal of progress. No details of the session this morning were immediately released.

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwean authorities demolished huts and evicted people west of the capital Tuesday, witnesses said, defying U.N. demands to halt the much condemned urban renewal program that the world body says has left 700,000 people homeless or without jobs.

In Geneva, the Red Cross asked for $1.9-million to provide emergency relief to victims of the devastating government-led cleanup. It said the money was for tents, blankets, soap, mosquito nets, water and purification tablets.

The government authorities came at night, beat people and burned huts at Porta Farm, 25 miles west of Harare, a settlement the government set up in 1991 to house 3,000 squatters so they would not be seen by Britain's visiting Queen Elizabeth II, the Associated Press reported, quoting an unnamed witness. The number of inhabitants has grown to 30,000 in the past 14 years.

The government of President Robert Mugabe made no comment about the demolitions and evictions - part of a larger program that began in May to clear out urban slums.

CASTRO VOWS ELECTRICITY: Cuban President Fidel Castro said Tuesday that his government is revolutionizing Cuba's aging electrical system, asking a nation weary of recent breakdowns to be patient while his government works to fix the problems. Summer heat in the 90s and hourslong blackouts that stop fans and water pumps and cause refrigerated food to spoil have increasingly irritated Cubans and led to reports of small, sporadic protests and scattered antigovernment graffiti.

BOLIVIA IS TARGET, U.S. SAYS: Cuba and Venezuela are trying to install leftist governments throughout Latin America and are closest to achieving their objective in Bolivia, a Defense Department official said Tuesday. Roger Pardo-Maurer, a deputy assistant secretary who specializes in Western Hemisphere issues, said Bolivia has become the main target of the two leftist Caribbean countries because revolutionary conditions exist there. Venezuelan Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez said he considered Pardo-Maurer's remarks a Bush administration scare tactic aimed at securing House votes for CAFTA, a free trade agreement.

[Last modified July 27, 2005, 01:06:11]