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World in brief

Israel fires missiles into Gaza Strip, killing militant

By wire services
Published October 29, 2005

BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip - Missiles fired from an Israeli aircraft struck a car in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun on Friday, killing a Palestinian militant and escalating the bloodletting that has dimmed the prospects for peacemaking following Israel's pullout from the coastal strip.

Earlier in the day, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz issued a pessimistic outlook for reaching a peace deal with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, saying in published comments that Abbas was too weak to negotiate a permanent accord. Palestinians accused Mofaz of giving voice to an Israeli policy that favors occupation.

The Israeli military said its aircraft targeted the white Subaru in Beit Hanoun because the militants inside were on a mission to fire rockets at the southern Israeli town of Sderot. No hits were reported in Sderot, but the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a group affiliated with Abbas' governing Fatah party, said an Israeli drone targeted its members after the rockets were already fired.

Early today, Israeli jets fired missiles in three separate attacks in the northern Gaza Strip, but no injuries were reported. The military said the sites were used to launch attacks on Israel.

BEIJING - North Korea is financing illicit activities by printing up bogus U.S. $100 bills and passing them abroad to banking centers, a senior U.S. Treasury official said Friday.

The counterfeit bills are of such good quality that they have come to be called "super notes," said Stuart Levey, the Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

Washington has accused Pyongyang of counterfeiting American currency for more than a decade, but its accusations have become increasingly specific.

Levey charged that efforts by North Korea to counterfeit U.S. $100 bills finance and underpin a variety of activities, including development of its nuclear weapons program.

North Korea denies that it prints fake American money. In a commentary on its official state news service last week, North Korea decried what it called a "smear campaign" and said it "is nothing but a clumsy and base political farce intended to impair the image" of the isolated Stalinist nation.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - At least 1.7-million Zambians need food, and the situation is deteriorating rapidly, the U.N. food agency warned Friday.

"Villages are on the brink of widespread starvation," World Food Program country director David Stevenson said.

"There's very little food aid on the way for the next six months unless the international community steps in now with cash," he said.

An estimated 12-million people in six southern African countries are expected to need food aid before February due to crop failure and the rising cost of grain.

[Last modified October 29, 2005, 01:46:07]