Three Americans hurt in suicide attack

AFGHANISTAN

KANDAHAR -- Two suicide attackers exploded car bombs in separate assaults on US and Afghan forces yesterday, slightly wounding two US military members and one US civilian contractor, officials said. The bombings occurred around 11:30 a.m. in the southern province of Helmand, a hub of Afghanistan's drug trade and Taliban rebellion. Both attackers died, and Afghan police were investigating the attacks. (AP)

MEXICO

TIJUANA -- A US executive abducted in this violent Mexico-US border city escaped yesterday after his kidnappers dozed off, officials said. Yong Hak Kim, 53, of Los Angeles, a top administrator of Amex Manufacturing in eastern Tijuana, was seized as he drove to his business early Thursday. About 24 hours later, he was able to escape the small house where he had been taken, grabbing a gun and running into the street. (AP)

NETHERLANDS

AMSTERDAM -- An Iberian Airlines flight bound for Madrid turned back to the Netherlands yesterday after a passenger on board threatened to blow up the plane, police said. All 165 passengers were removed from the plane on inflatable slides when it landed safely at Amsterdam's Schipol airport. Police sent in bomb-detection dogs but did not find any explosives. A suspect identified only as a Spanish national was subdued by the crew and taken into custody at the airport. (Reuters)

SPAIN

MADRID -- Spain's Supreme Court yesterday threw out the convictions of three men found guilty last year of being part of an Al Qaeda-linked group after prosecutors agreed there was not sufficient evidence to jail them. Driss Chebli, Sadik Merizak, and Abdelaziz Benyaich had received sentences of between six and eight years, Chebli for collaboration with a Qaeda-linked terror group, and the others for belonging to a terror organization. (AP)

AUSTRIA

VIENNA -- Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency, will visit Iran next week to try to win more cooperation from Tehran in an investigation of its atomic program as demanded by the UN Security Council. The International Atomic Energy Agency's governing board has called on Iran to halt activities related to uranium enrichment. (Reuters)

CHILE

SANTIAGO -- A Chilean appeals court yesterday dismissed two charges against former dictator Augusto Pinochet related to judicial investigations of his multimillion dollar offshore accounts. The court dropped charges of falsifying Defense Ministry documents and false declarations of assets, but let stand charges of tax evasion and falsifying passports. Pinochet, 90, is being investigated in dozens of human rights cases stemming from alleged abuses during his 1973-1990 rule. (Reuters)

PERU

LIMA -- Nationalist former army commander Ollanta Humala is keeping his lead in polls ahead of this weekend's presidential election, but separate polls had conflicting results on whether pro-business candidate Lourdes Flores or former president Alan Garcia would join him in advancing to a runoff election. Twenty candidates are running for president. (Reuters)