Afghanistan: Enemy fire injures American serviceman

Shots were fired at a U.S. helicopter in Afghanistan, wounding a crewman in the foot, the military said Saturday. The helicopter returned fire, killing one enemy fighter and wounding another.

The wounded American was taken to the U.S. base in Kandahar and was in stable condition after Friday night’s shooting, said Col. Roger King, a U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan. He did not identify the crewman but said it was not the helicopter pilot or co-pilot.

The special operations helicopter, a twin-rotor MH-47 Chinook, was hit by small-arms fire northwest of Kandahar, King said.

Paris: Mayor stabbed in city hall

An attacker stabbed Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe in the abdomen today at City Hall, but his life was not in danger, city officials and firefighters said.

Delanoe was rushed by ambulance to Pitie Salpetriere hospital in Paris, the mayor’s office said.

France Info radio reported that a 40-year-old man had been taken into custody after allegedly stabbing the Socialist mayor at 2:30 a.m. local time. The motive for the attack was not immediately known.

The mayor’s office had organized a night of festivities in Paris, with museums open late, monuments lit up and artists performing throughout the capital. Paris City Hall opened its doors for a concert of lounge music.

Washington: Iraq may drop restrictions on palace inspections

Iraq may soon announce it is prepared to drop restrictions covering U.N. inspections of Saddam Hussein’s eight presidential sites in the face of a U.N. Security Council resolution that will call for “any time and any place” visits and thus eliminate a 1998 agreement that governed those so-called sensitive sites, according to U.N. and U.S. officials.

“The threat of what is coming will make Iraq move so that they appear to be taking the initiative and not being forced to do it by the U.N.,” said one official familiar with the international discussions.

West Bank: Israeli army fire kills Palestinian teenager

Israeli troops Saturday killed a Palestinian youth during clashes in the West Bank’s most populous city, the fifth such death in two weeks. Israel’s military intelligence chief, meanwhile, said Yasser Arafat’s followers are trying to prevent terror attacks inside Israel.

In Washington, a Bush administration official said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will meet with President Bush on Oct. 16. Israeli news media said the talks would deal with the Israel-Palestinian conflict and possible U.S. action in Iraq.

The shooting of 15-year-old Amer Hashem came during the sort of confrontation that has become common in the Nablus area, where youths often defy the nearly continuous curfew Israel has imposed since mid-June in response to two suicide bombings by Palestinian militants.

The army said soldiers fired in self defense after they were attacked with stones and at least one bomb.