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World in brief

Pope's shooter leaves prison, slips past crowd

By wire services
Published January 13, 2006

ISTANBUL, Turkey - After 25 years behind bars for trying to assassinate Pope John Paul II and killing a journalist, Mehmet Ali Agca was released from prison - and promptly gave his supporters and his enemies the slip.

Within hours of tasting freedom Thursday for the first time since wounding the pope in 1981, Agca disappeared out the back door of a military hospital.

He left behind questions about whether he will be forced to complete the mandatory military service he dodged as a young man.

Many Turks expressed dismay that Agca, 48, served just five years for the slaying of newspaper columnist Abdi Ipekci in 1979, during a time of street violence between rightists and leftists.

Justice Minister Cemil Cicek ordered a review to see whether any errors were committed in releasing him. He said Agca would remain free until an appeals court reviewed the case.

Agca benefited from amnesties, passed by previous governments, which have freed tens of thousands of criminals over the past decades, Cicek said.

After his release, Agca - who initially was handcuffed - reported to a military recruitment center. He left, uncuffed, for a routine checkup at a military hospital. He exited the hospital through a back door only used by high military commanders. His whereabouts were not immediately known.

JERUSALEM - Ariel Sharon's doctors faced new criticism Thursday for failing to divulge a brain disease discovered after the prime minister's initial stroke and for prescribing blood thinners that may have contributed to a massive second stroke.

Some experts, however, said there was no clear-cut answer.

As Sharon lay comatose for an eighth day Thursday, a brain scan showed the remnants of the blood in his brain from a Jan. 4 stroke have been absorbed, hospital officials said in a statement.

In response, doctors removed a tube they had inserted into Sharon's skull to relieve pressure on his brain, the statement said.

In coming days, doctors may have to cut a hole in Sharon's neck to assist breathing, while still waiting for him to fully awaken from a medically induced coma.

After Sharon, 77, suffered an initial, minor stroke Dec. 18, doctors put him on an anticoagulant. A few days later, doctors acknowledged blood thinners increased the risk of brain hemorrhage, but said the fear of a clot leading to another stroke was greater in this case.

Doctors later said they knew after the first stroke that Sharon also suffered from cerebral amyloid angiopathy, which weakens the blood vessels in the brain and increases the risk of hemorrhage, but prescribed the blood thinners anyway.

BEIJING - The top U.S. negotiator on North Korea's nuclear programs said Thursday he had no plans to meet the regime's leader while in China, where Kim Jong Il is widely believed to have traveled.

Kim was reported to have gone by train Tuesday to China. But the trip has yet to be officially announced by North Korean or Chinese authorities, and his ultimate destination was unknown.

Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Christopher Hill arrived Thursday from Seoul and met with his Chinese counterpart, Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei. Hill said earlier he hoped to learn the latest North Korean thinking, but declined to give any details as he emerged from the meeting.

He said the United States was "ready whenever the Chinese are ready to convene six-party talks," referring to nuclear negotiations involving the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, China and Russia.

NAIROBI, Kenya - Elephants are leaving their drought-stricken sanctuaries to search for water and food near human settlements, where they have attacked starving people trying to protect their crops. Kenya Wildlife Services said Thursday that elephants killed two people last week after leaving the Tsavo West National Park.

On Jan. 1, President Mwai Kibaki said food shortages would affect some 2.5-million Kenyans.

[Last modified January 13, 2006, 01:47:08]