Ministry cites waves of militant arrests

RIYADH - Saudi authorities have arrested 701 suspected Al Qaeda-linked militants in 2008, some of whom planned a car bomb attack on an oil installation, the Interior Ministry said yesterday. The militants from various countries were arrested in waves, but 181 were released because there was no proof linking them to the terror network, according to a ministry statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. The remaining 520 are still in custody. The figure was the highest number of reported arrests to date. (AP)

LONDON - Beavers are back, doing what they do best. The native beaver population in England was hunted into extinction in the 13th century, but a pair of 2-year-old beavers brought from Germany have in the last 10 days built a dam in southwest England. Conservationist John-Michael Kennaway said the construction of the 7-foot-wide dam is a welcome milestone in the plan to reintroduce beavers. Beavers have been returned over the past few years to Britain. (AP)

CIUDAD JUAREZ - Police say 20 people have been killed in less than three days in this crime-ridden border city's latest wave of violence. State police spokesman Cesar Ramirez said a father and son killed at their home while sleeping were among the victims. A third victim was a man whose body was cut into pieces and dumped in a lot. Ramirez said about 500 people have been killed this year in Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas. The city is home to the powerful Juarez drug cartel and has been among the hardest-hit cities in an explosion of violence stretching across Mexico. (AP)