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World in brief

Poland to investigate alleged CIA jails

By wire services
Published December 11, 2005

WARSAW, Poland - Poland's prime minister said Saturday he has ordered an investigation into whether the CIA ran secret prisons for terror suspects in the country - an allegation the government repeatedly has denied.

Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz said a "detailed" inquiry would be conducted to "check if there is any proof that such an event took place in our country. It is necessary to finally close the issue because it could be dangerous to Poland."

More than a half-dozen investigations are under way into whether European countries may have hosted secret U.S.-run prisons in which al-Qaida suspects were allegedly tortured, and whether European airports and airspace were used for alleged CIA flights transporting prisoners to countries where torture is practiced.

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea on Saturday denounced the new U.S. ambassador to South Korea for calling the communist nation a "criminal regime," saying his remark was tantamount to a declaration of war.

Ambassador Alexander Vershbow made the comment Tuesday, citing alleged illicit activities by North Korea like money laundering and counterfeiting.

North Korea called the statement "a sort of provocative declaration of a war" and threatened to "mercilessly retaliate against it," the official Korean Central News Agency quoted a spokesman for the North's committee on peaceful reunification as saying.

SANTIAGO, Chile - Chileans go to the polls today to elect a new president, and for the first time in their country's turbulent political history, the front-running candidate is a woman.

She is Dr. Michelle Bachelet, 54, a former defense minister and health minister who has become the standard-bearer of the center-left coalition of Socialists and Christian Democrats that has been in power here since Gen. Augusto Pinochet's brutal military dictatorship ended in 1990. She is also a doctor, a former political prisoner and exile and the daughter of a prominent general who was convicted of treason, tortured and died in prison shortly after Pinochet seized power in 1973.

Recent polls show Bachelet with about 45 percent of the vote, short of the majority needed to avoid a runoff next month. Two right-wing candidates, former allies who have become bitter adversaries, are battling each other for the second spot, and polls indicate that their competition is too close to call.

BEIJING - China on Saturday blamed a deadly confrontation between authorities and demonstrators near Hong Kong on "a few instigators" who organized an attack on a wind power plant, prompting police to open fire.

China said in its first official comments on Tuesday's confrontation that three villagers were killed. Residents, however, said as many as 20 people were killed, and that dozens were missing.

A Hong Kong newspaper quoted villagers accusing officials of trying to cover up the killings.

[Last modified December 11, 2005, 02:15:36]