India stalls on border opening
Muzaffarabad, Pakistan India on Saturday sharply curtailed plans to open its Kashmir frontier with Pakistan early this week to aid earthquake survivors – a setback for the disaster diplomacy that has brought the nuclear-armed rivals closer in a time of need.
Meanwhile, forecasts of snow on the Pakistani side of the disputed Himalayan territory added to the ordeal for hundreds of thousands of survivors still without shelter nearly a month after the quake, as U.N. and other aid agencies struggle with limited budgets to deliver help before winter.
After the Oct. 8 quake killed about 80,000 people across Pakistan and the divided territory of Kashmir, India and Pakistan reached a breakthrough agreement to open five border crossings starting Monday.
But India said Saturday that only one crossing would be ready – a blow for survivors eager to cross over to check on relatives, exchange provisions and seek help at relief camps being set up along the heavily militarized frontier.
Indian army spokesman Lt. Col. V. K. Batra said that two crossings were not ready because of the threat of land mines and landslides on the Indian side, but he also blamed Pakistan for delays in clearing another two routes.
Boy with toy gun dies from recent shooting
Jerusalem A 12-year-old Palestinian boy who was shot by Israeli troops while holding a toy gun last week died of his wounds Saturday, relatives and medical officials said.
Israeli forces mistook the boy for an armed militant during an exchange of fire on Thursday in the West Bank town of Jenin and later discovered he was carrying a toy M-16 rifle, military officials said. The boy, Ahmed Ismail Khatib, was taken to an Israeli hospital with wounds to his head and stomach.
Dr. Tzvi Ben-Yishai, a spokesman for Rambam Hospital in the Israeli city of Haifa, said the boy died Saturday and his parents decided to donate his organs “to bring hearts closer and bring peace closer.”
Muslim extremist captured in Philippines
Manila, Philippines Security forces on Saturday captured a Philippine Muslim extremist group’s leader, who also was wanted by the United States for attacks against Americans, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo announced.
In a statement on government television, Arroyo congratulated police and soldiers for catching Radulan Sahiron, describing him as “a very notorious leader” of the Abu Sayyaf militant group.
The one-armed Sahiron, Abu Sayyaf’s chief of staff, was on a U.S. list of wanted terrorists. Authorities have linked him to several kidnappings, including the April 2000 abduction of 21 Western tourists and Asian workers from Malaysia.
He was also wanted for the deaths of two Americans who had been kidnapped in 2001.
Sahiron was captured in a special police operation in Zamboanga Sibugay province, about 480 miles south of Manila.
Fragile calm prevails in Ethiopia’s capital
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Sporadic gunfire erupted outside Ethiopia’s capital Saturday as security forces kept a fragile calm, following a week of political violence in which at least 44 people were killed and thousands arrested.
Demonstrators and security forces clashed in Debre Brahan, a town northeast of Addis Ababa, a human rights group said.
“There was shooting. We believe there may be causalties,” said a member of the group.
On Friday, the violence spread to at least six other towns, killing at least four people, and scattered gunfire erupted throughout the capital.
The unrest started Tuesday in the capital over May 15 parliamentary elections seen as a test of Prime Minister Zenawi Meles’ commitment to reform. The vote gave his Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front control of nearly two-thirds of parliament, but opposition parties said the election was marred by fraud, intimidation and violence.