Castro’s condition ‘grave,’ paper says

Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro is in “very grave” condition after three failed operations and complications from an intestinal infection, a Spanish newspaper said today. The newspaper El Pais cited two unnamed sources from the Gregorio Maranon hospital in the Spanish capital of Madrid. The facility employs surgeon Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, who flew to Cuba in December to treat the 80-year-old Castro.

Cuba has released little information on Castro’s condition since he temporarily ceded power in July to his brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro, until he could recover from emergency intestinal surgery. El Pais’ report could not immediately be confirmed.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan

Military attacks al-Qaida hideouts

Pakistan’s army destroyed three suspected al-Qaida hideouts in an airstrike near the Afghan border today, killing several members of the terror group, an army spokesman said.

The military carried out the operation in South Waziristan tribal region after receiving information that 25 to 30 al-Qaida members were hiding there, said army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan.

Sultan said “no high-value target was believed to be there.”

LONDON

Jury ruled out for Diana inquest

A judge in Britain ruled Monday that she alone would determine what caused the deaths of Princess Diana and her boyfriend, rejecting arguments that a jury was the best way to ensure justice.

In the ruling, Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss said a jury – unlike a judge – would be forbidden under British law from considering the conspiracy theories that have dogged the investigation into the Aug. 31, 1997, deaths of Diana and Dodi Fayed.

Mohamed al Fayed, the father of Dodi Fayed, has accused the queen’s husband, Prince Philip, of orchestrating a plot to kill Diana and Fayed, who died in a car crash in Paris. Philip has never commented on the accusation.