Eight captive soldiers executed by militants

ISLAMABAD -- Eight Pakistani soldiers who were taken hostage by militants in tribal areas earlier this week have been executed, The New York Times reports today. The newspaper, quoting government officials, said the soldiers were seized Monday when their supply convoy was ambushed in Serwakai, near the Afghan border. The killings were disclosed as the government denounced a taped statement apparently made by a senior Al Qaeda figure, Ayman al-Zawahiri, urging the country's army and populace to revolt. Officials said they would continue the military operations that have stirred unrest in Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal areas.

SPAIN

Jordanian is linked to Madrid bombings

MADRID -- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian linked to Al Qaeda and suspected of heading a terrorist network in Iraq, is thought to have masterminded the deadly Madrid railway attacks, French private investigator Jean-Charles Brisard said yesterday. Brisard said Spanish officials told him some suspects held in the March 11 attacks were in contact with Zarqawi as recently as a month or two before the bombings. The Spanish Interior Ministry declined to comment on his assertions. (AP)

POLAND

Prime minister to quit after Warsaw joins EU

WARSAW -- Prime Minister Leszek Miller announced yesterday he will step down the day after Poland joins the European Union on May 1, taking the blame for his government's collapse in popularity and raising the prospect of early elections. President Aleksander Kwasniewski, who accepted the decision, expressed confidence that it ultimately would help political stability in Poland, a key US ally in Iraq, after months of weakness under Miller. "I am convinced that this decision serves Poland and the Poles well," Kwasniewski said at a news conference after meeting with Miller. (AP)

JAPAN

Tokyo ordered to pay Chinese slave workers

TOKYO -- For the first time, a Japanese court yesterday ordered both the government and a private company to pay compensation to Chinese forced to work as slave laborers during World War II. Previously, courts have ordered only private companies to compensate such laborers. The plaintiffs -- 10 survivors and two relatives of laborers who have since died -- said they were taken to Niigata in northern Japan in 1944 as virtual slaves and forced to work at a port under harsh conditions. The Niigata District Court awarded them $830,200 total. (AP)

NIGERIA

Troops are deployed amid election violence

LAGOS -- Nigeria's president deployed tens of thousands of soldiers and police yesterday, appealing for calm on the eve of nationwide municipal elections marred by assassinations and other attacks. An international rights group said a "climate of impunity" could kindle more violence in Africa's most populous nation, where many protest that true democracy remains elusive five years after elected civilians replaced brutal military rulers. Elections have been canceled or postponed in hundreds of districts for fear of violence and because of legal disputes. (AP)

BRITAIN

Court faults officials for taking child organs

LONDON -- British health authorities were negligent when they removed organs from hundreds of dead children without consent from their parents, a High Court judge ruled yesterday. Judge Sir William Gage also said families whose children's organs were removed during hospital postmortems could seek compensation from local health authorities involved. It was learned in the late 1990s that 3,500 organs from babies and children were retained by a hospital in northwestern England without the knowledge of parents. The organs were taken for educational and research purposes. (AP)