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Despite efforts, Columbian coca production up

By TIMES WIRES
Published June 4, 2007

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA

Despite record drug eradication efforts, a White House survey found production of coca in Colombia rose for the third consecutive year in 2006, President Alvaro Uribe said. Uribe, who travels to Washington on Wednesday to secure the continued flow of U.S. antidrug aid, said the survey by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy found that production rose 8 percent last year, to 385, 484 acres - twice the size of New York City. Uribe said the White House asked him not to reveal the survey results but "that's why I'm revealing it. We're not trying to put makeup on what is a serious matter." Plan Colombia, the U.S.-backed antinarcotics and counterinsurgency, has cost American taxpayers over $5-billion since 2000.

MOSCOW

Putin issues nuclear warning

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that U.S. plans to build a missile defense system in Eastern Europe would force Moscow to target its weapons against Europe. The threat, in an interview published Sunday in foreign media, came days before he is to join President Bush and other leaders at a Group of Eight summit in Germany. "If the American nuclear potential grows in European territory, we have to give ourselves new targets in Europe, " Putin said. "It is up to our military to define these targets, in addition to defining the choice between ballistic and cruise missiles."

HAVANA

Castro appears stronger in clip

Talking at length, grinning for cameras and even cracking jokes, Fidel Castro looked stronger and more vibrant Sunday as the first TV images of the ailing Cuban leader in four months appeared to confirm official reports he is feeling better. At times in the 2 1/2-minute clip, the 80-year-old shakes his fist and waggles a finger for effect while talking to Vietnamese Communist Party chief Nong Duc Manh, who met with him Saturday.

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS

Dozens show up for nude photos

Dozens of women posed naked on their bicycles on a bridge over one of Amsterdam's historic canals Sunday - a unique sight even in a city famed for its relaxed attitude toward nudity and sex. They were among 2, 000 men and women who participated in a series of four nude group photos in the city in the early hours of the morning as part of the latest project of U.S. photographer Spencer Tunick.

[Last modified June 4, 2007, 01:41:56]