Colorado: Wildfire closes national park; one killed in helicopter crash

A 2,077-acre wildfire charred the mesa above one of Mesa Verde National Park’s signature cliff dwellings Tuesday, and fire workers scrambled to protect scores of archaeological sites.

The blaze in southwestern Colorado shut down the park Monday, forcing the evacuation of 2,000 visitors and employees.

To the north, a helicopter dropping water on remaining hot spots of a wildfire near Rocky Mountain National Park crashed Tuesday night, killing one person, authorities said.

It was the second fatal crash this month involving aerial crews battling the fire northwest of Denver. A PB4Y-2 Privateer fire tanker broke apart July 18, killing two people.

Brunei: Powell meets with N. Korean

Secretary of State Colin Powell met informally with North Korea’s foreign minister today in the first high-level contact between the two countries since President Bush labeled the communist nation part of an “axis of evil.”

Powell told Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun that in any future discussions, the United States would want to “emphasize a variety of matters, including proliferation and mutual commitments made” under a 1994 agreement designed to curb North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

A senior official said the meeting occurred in a delegates lounge at the meeting site in Bandar Seri Bagawan. Powell had sent word to the North Koreans that he was in the lounge and was available for a conversation.

Philippines: Rebel group run off island

The head of U.S. forces in the southern Philippines says the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf has been pushed out of Basilan, a jungle island that was one of the group’s main bases.

American forces worked with Philippine soldiers on Basilan as part of a six-month counterterrorism exercise that ends today. A year ago, Philippine officials estimated Abu Sayyaf had about 1,200 followers on the island and 140 more on other islands.

Brig. Gen. Donald Wurster said of Abu Sayyaf: “With what is in the future for them, I think they ought to take up another line of work because they are going to have an unlucky day and it’s going to be the end of them and the world will be better for it.”

Germany: Leaders oppose Iraq attack

The French president warned Iraq Tuesday to “very, very quickly” agree to the return of U.N. weapons inspectors as he and the German leader emerged from a summit meeting to insist an attack against Baghdad would require U.N. approval.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and President Jacques Chirac reaffirmed their long-standing positions as speculation builds that President Bush will order a military offensive to oust Saddam Hussein.

“I do not want to imagine an attack against Iraq, an attack which were it to happen could only be justified if it were decided on by the (U.N.) Security Council,” Chirac said at a joint news conference in Schwerin. “I also do not want to imagine that the Iraqi authorities will fail to grasp their interest. … I believe Iraq would be well advised to understand the necessity for it to reach an accord very, very quickly with the U.N. secretary-general.”