World in brief: 3 re-arrested in missing teen case
Three young men previously detained as suspects in the 2005 disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway were re-arrested Wednesday, the Aruban public prosecutor’s office said, citing new evidence in the case.
Dutch student Joran van der Sloot and two Surinamese brothers, Satish and Deepak Kalpoe, were arrested on suspicion of involvement in voluntary manslaughter and causing serious bodily harm that resulted in the death of Holloway, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
However, van der Sloot’s mother insisted her son had not been arrested but was only detained for more questioning.
Holloway, of Mountain Brook, Ala., was last seen leaving a bar with the three men on May 30, 2005, hours before she was scheduled to board a plane home with high school classmates. She was 18.
No trace was ever found of her, despite a massive search effort.
TORONTO
Canada to protect millions of acres
Canada will set aside 25.5 million acres in the north for use as two new conservation areas, a move aimed at staving off potential oil and other resource exploration in some regions.
The two protected areas in the Northwest Territories will be among the largest in Canadian history, federal Environment Minister John Baird said.
The eastern arm area of Great Slave Lake will become an 8.3 million-acre national park, while 15 million acres between the park and an existing wildlife refuge will be designated a conservation area managed by native groups.
Farther northwest, 3.7 million acres of land near the Mackenzie River will be reserved for a national wildlife area.
PARIS
Trains sabotaged amid transit strike
France’s high-speed train network, crippled by eight days of strikes, fell victim to sabotage Wednesday just as long-awaited talks got started and rail workers in town after town voted to return to the job.
The majority of train drivers remained on strike, however, meaning a ninth day of hard traveling was in store for anyone planning a train trip today.
There were slight improvements to the Paris subway system, but not enough to avoid long delays.
The announcement by the SNCF train authority that cables had been set afire and the signal system tampered with on high-speed lines east, west, north and south of Paris in a “coordinated action of sabotage” drew a raft of condemnation. The vandalism further delayed trains that were running up to three hours behind schedule.