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N. Korea nuclear move feared

By TIMES WIRES
Published September 24, 2006

BEIJING - North Korea is planning to remove fuel rods at a nuclear reactor within the next three months in what would be a significant boost to its nuclear weapons capability, an American expert said Saturday.

Selig Harrison, director of the Asia program at the Center for International Policy in Washington, said North Korea's vice foreign minister told him in Pyongyang last week the secretive communist regime would unload the rods at the Yongbyon reactor "beginning this fall, and no later than the end of the year."

The Yongbyon reactor has been at the center of U.S. concerns about North Korea's nuclear weapons program. The reactor's spent fuel rods can be mined for plutonium, which can be used to construct nuclear bombs.

"Every time they unload it, they are getting a new increment of plutonium to be reprocessed and they are adding to the number of weapons that they could make," Harrison said.

A Greek sacred symbol is recovered by police

ATHENS, Greece - The Greek police on Saturday recovered one of the country's most sacred symbols, a 700-year-old icon that was stolen from a remote monastery in a daring break-in last month.

The gold-encrusted icon, depicting the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus, was found in a secluded hamlet in southern Greece, where officials said a 28-year-old Romanian confessed to having hidden it after staging the robbery at the Elona monastery. Details of the Romanian's identity were not released.

Copter with 24 aboard reported missing in Nepal

KATMANDU, Nepal - A helicopter chartered by conservation group World Wildlife Fund with 24 people aboard including an American aid worker, a Finnish diplomat and a Nepalese minister went missing Saturday in Nepal's mountainous east, officials said.

Early today, five rescue helicopters flew to the area in eastern Taplejung district where the Russian-built MI-17 helicopter disappeared. But bad weather was hampering the search operation, Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Pradeep Gyawali said.

A team of soldiers and policemen were sent to the area on foot to assist a ground team already there, he added.

Pro-Western ex-diplomat wins Estonia's presidency

TALLINN, Estonia - A Western-leaning former diplomat and journalist was narrowly elected Estonia's president Saturday, ousting the incumbent who was favored in the race.

Toomas Hendrik Ilves, 52, who was raised in the United States and has a psychology degree from Columbia University, said after his election that he wants to take the former Soviet republic "more to the center of Europe."

Ilves received 174 votes from the 345-member electoral college, made up of lawmakers and municipal leaders, compared to 162 votes for incumbent Arnold Ruutel, the electoral committee said.

Elsewhere ...

YEMEN: Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, was re-elected with more than 77 percent of votes in the face of the strongest challenge since he came to power 28 years ago from an opponent with a popular following, officials said Saturday. But the opposition alleged fraud and rejected the result.

SRI LANKA: Hundreds of Muslim families are fleeing their homes in eastern Sri Lanka amid fears of a Tamil Tiger rebel assault to reclaim territory taken by government forces in recent fighting, a local government leader said Saturday.

[Last modified September 24, 2006, 01:40:51]