US is criticized over Syrian reactor

VIENNA - The UN nuclear watchdog pledged yesterday to investigate whether Syria secretly built an atomic reactor with North Korean help but criticized the United States for delaying the release of intelligence. The United States on Thursday revealed photos and intelligence data about the suspected atomic plant, which was bombed by Israeli warplanes Sept. 6. Syria's ambassador to the United States, Imad Moustapha, contended that the CIA had

fabricated the pictures.

(Reuters)

MEXICO CITY - Leftist lawmakers ended a 16-day blockade of Mexico's Congress yesterday after agreeing on a national debate they hope will lead to defeat of the president's energy bill. The legislators have been camped out around the clock in both houses of Congress since Felipe Calderon presented a bill that would let the government's debt-strapped

state oil company seek foreign help to boost sagging production. (AP)

ISTANBUL - Two Turkish soldiers were killed in a clash with Kurdish rebels in southeastern Turkey yesterday, the military said. CNN-Turk said one of the soldiers was an army major and the other was a private. It said the clash took place near the Iraqi border but did not say if any rebels were killed. Turkish planes also bombed rebel bases in northern Iraq yesterday. Kurds have been fighting for self-rule in southern Turkey. (AP)

PARIS - Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner will visit Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela next week to seek a way of freeing Ingrid Betancourt and other hostages held by Colombian FARC guerrillas, his office said yesterday. France earlier this month abandoned a mission to send a medical team to treat the seriously ill Betancourt, a Franco-Colombian citizen kidnapped while campaigning for the presidency in 2002. (Reuters)

PESHAWAR - Pakistan's new government and Taliban militants said yesterday that they would press ahead with peace talks despite American skepticism and a militant bombing that killed three people at a police station. A spokesman for an umbrella group of Pakistani militants defended the bombing by saying the militants maintained their right to carry out revenge killings, an exception to a cease-fire declared in response to the peace talks. (AP)

MADRID - Police are investigating a small plane loaded with drugs that crashed yesterday at the estate of one of the country's most prominent bankers, killing two people on board, the Interior Ministry said. The plane crashed around midday as it tried to land at a private airstrip on the country estate of banker Emilio Botin. The aircraft was carrying 440 pounds of hashish when it missed the airfield and crashed into a gully. (AP)