Honduras

Helicopter crash kills five U.S. soldiers

An American Black Hawk helicopter crashed in the hills of central Honduras during a night training exercise, killing five U.S. soldiers.

The helicopter, from Soto Cano Air Force Base in Palmerola, Honduras, crashed about 9 p.m. Wednesday while on routine training, said Lt. Col. Bill Costello, a spokesman for the U.S. Southern Command in Florida.

The names of the dead were being withheld until their families could be notified. The crew belonged to the 1st Battalion, 228th Aviation Regiment, based at Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico.

Venezuela

Oil workers protest firing of strike leaders

Using a tactic that has backfired in the past, President Hugo Chavez fired four dissident executives from Venezuela’s state oil monopoly Thursday, setting off a rowdy protest by oil workers on the 11th day of a damaging general strike.

Chavez had fired the same four executives and three others in April, triggering a general strike that helped provoke a short-lived coup.

A conciliatory Chavez reinstated the executives after he was restored to power. But Thursday’s firings showed the president was determined to break a strike that has shut down Venezuela’s vital oil industry.

Venezuela’s oil industry, No. 5 in the world, has been crippled, unsettling markets worldwide and creating concerns in the United States about heating oil supplies this winter.

Iran

Iran considers building second nuclear plant

Iran is considering construction of a second major nuclear power plant, state-run television reported Thursday, despite U.S. concern that byproducts from Iranian plants could be used to manufacture nuclear weapons.

Iran’s Atomic Energy Council ordered a feasibility study on a second plant as the country’s first nuclear power station at Bushehr prepares to go on line next year with Russian help.

It was not clear if Russia would be involved in the construction of the new plant. The Kremlin has floated preliminary plans to help Iran build five more nuclear reactors in the next 10 years.

However, the Russian news agency Interfax quoted Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev as saying in September that Bushehr is the only nuclear program Russia has with Iran.

Moscow

Putin decree calls for Chechen referendum

President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Thursday calling for a referendum on a constitution and elections in Chechnya, part of a Kremlin effort to promote stability and bolster Russian control over the war-ravaged region.

The decree gives Chechnya’s Moscow-backed administration one month to organize a plebiscite in which voters would be asked to approve a draft constitution and bills on electing the republic’s president and parliament. It promises them all necessary help from Russia’s Central Election Commission.

Vatican City

Vatican asks Israel for Bethlehem access

Israel’s president promised the pope during a meeting Thursday that the army would redeploy outside the pilgrim city of Bethlehem during Christmas if there are no warnings of terrorist attacks, the Israeli embassy said.

The Vatican, in talks with President Moshe Katsav, had urged Israel to allow “free access” during the holiday season in Bethlehem, where Israeli troops are patrolling Manger Square after occupying the town.

Katsav, making the first visit by an Israeli head of state to the Vatican, met with Pope John Paul II and the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano.

The military occupation of Bethlehem is Israel’s third in recent months as troops hunt for Palestinian militants believed behind suicide bombings in Israel.