World in brief: Long-time mayor dies at 95

Teddy Kollek, the six-term mayor of Jerusalem whose vision, grit and charm held together a city fractured by warring faiths and factions, died Tuesday. He was 95.

During nearly three decades in office, Kollek earned a reputation as a master builder, showman and agile political pro. He espoused a vision in which Arabs and Jews could live together, but was resolutely down to earth.

A committed Zionist and a founder of the Israeli intelligence service, Kollek consolidated Israel’s control of east Jerusalem and supported ringing the city with Jewish neighborhoods.

He started the Jerusalem Foundation to raise money for the city, seeking to give it cultural weight to match its historical importance.

The Foundation said he died of natural causes Tuesday morning. Flags over City Hall were lowered to half-staff.

MADRID, Spain

Official says bomb has doomed peace

The peace process to end Spain’s Basque separatist conflict – the most promising prospect in years for resolving the violent conflict – ended abruptly with the weekend car bombing at Madrid’s international airport, the interior minister said Tuesday.

“There is no process. It has been broken, it is over, it has been liquidated. ETA ended it with the bomb it set off in Madrid,” Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba told a news conference, naming the militant group blamed for the explosion.

His remarks went further than those of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who said after Saturday’s blast that he was suspending – but not canceling – plans to negotiate with ETA.

The blast leveled a five-story parking lot at the airport, injuring 26 people and leaving two Ecuadorean immigrants missing and feared dead.

ETA has not claimed responsibility for the attack, but a caller who warned authorities before the explosion said he represented the group.

MAKASSAR, Indonesia

Officials mistaken on finding plane

Relatives waiting for news about a missing jetliner broke down in tears Tuesday after learning that senior Indonesian officials erroneously reported the Boeing 737’s charred wreckage had been found and that a dozen people may have survived.

The Adam Air plane carrying 102 people sent out two distress signals in stormy weather Monday halfway through its two-hour journey from Indonesia’s main island of Java to Manado, on the northern tip of Sulawesi.

A rescue official said Wednesday the plane had probably gone down in the sea.

Three of those aboard were American citizens, the U.S. Embassy said. It was unclear whether any other foreigners were on the plane.