Tokyo
New photos released of baby princess
Japan's government has released new pictures of Princess Aiko as part of New Year's celebrations, and the photos show the month-old infant has already grown a full head of hair.
On Wednesday the baby's grandfather, Emperor Akihito, offered New Year's greetings to well-wishers who flocked to the Imperial Palace in central Tokyo.
Aiko's father, Crown Prince Naruhito, attended Akihito's New Year's address. However, Crown Princess Masako and the baby were not present out of consideration for their health, palace officials said.
Denmark
Monument proposed to Sept. 11 victims
Danish officials want other European Union members to join Denmark in financing a monument in New York to those killed in the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
"It should be like a new Statue of Liberty that expresses our solidarity with New York," Copenhagen's Deputy Mayor Soeren Pind said.
That statue was a gift from France to the United States in 1886.
Copenhagen's Mayor Jens Kramer Mikkelsen will present the idea to officials from 14 EU capitals later this year, Pind said.
Pind did not estimate the cost but said he would ask his city to allocate $23,800 to coordinate efforts. The project was expected to take three to four years.
Havana
U.S. senators meet with opposition leaders
Two Republican senators met Wednesday with Cuban human rights activists and government opponents at the home of the top U.S. diplomat to the communist-run island.
U.S. officials confirmed the meeting and said Sens. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island were briefed on the Cuban human rights situation under the regime of Fidel Castro.
Seven members of the House of Representatives, six Democrats and a Republican, are scheduled to arrive today.
Moscow
Gunmen kill one guard at sports complex
Five gunmen wearing camouflage fatigues and armed with automatic weapons attacked a sporting complex Wednesday night in Moscow, killing a security guard and seriously injuring another, news agencies reported.
Police launched a citywide search for the assailants, according to Russian news agencies. The complex is used by the Central Sports Club of the Army hockey team, but also contains a market.
Investigators speculated the attack may have been linked to infighting among organized crime groups connected to the complex, ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
Gabon
Ebola toll at 23
A 16-year-old died of Ebola in northeastern Gabon, raising the death toll to 23 in an outbreak of the disease in two Central African countries, health officials said Wednesday.
Vivien Otolany died Sunday at an improvised isolation ward in Mekambo, about 465 miles northeast of the capital, Libreville, government and World Health Organization officials said. He was the sixth member of his family to die in the outbreak.
Medical experts are monitoring 191 people 96 in Gabon and 95 in Republic of Congo who may have had contact with those infected with the disease.
The region is one of the most thinly populated in both countries, inhabited by Pygmies and other tribes who hunt in the vast rain forests.
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