North Korea: U.S. special envoy called ‘arrogant,’ ‘threatening’

North Korea accused President Bush’s special envoy on Saturday of making “threatening remarks” when he visited Pyongyang to resume security talks in early October.

Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly visited North Korea on Oct. 3-5 and demanded that it address global concerns about its nuclear and other weapons programs.

“He made very arrogant and threatening remarks that if North Korea did not take any action first to solve the concerns about security, there would be neither dialogue nor improved relations,” said the North’s official news agency, KCNA.

Afghanistan: Munitions-filled warehouses discovered by U.S. troops

U.S. troops found two warehouses filled with a staggering arsenal believed to belong to a maverick Afghan commander, the military said Saturday.

The smaller of the two caches found Friday filled 35 trucks and included machine guns, 120 mm rockets and mortar rounds, Col. Roger King said. Troops from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division still were counting the larger find.

The warehouses were found in the southeastern city of Khost after Afghan officials tipped U.S. forces.

King said the weapons were believed to belong to Bacha Khan Zardran, a warlord who helped defeat the Taliban but later tried to seize control of the Khost region against the wishes of the central Afghan government. Last month, he was driven from Khost by forces allied with the government.

Germany: April arrests help lead to charges in terror case

Testimony from a suspected Islamic extremist helped German authorities build their case against a Moroccan man arrested last week on suspicion of supporting the Hamburg al-Qaida cell of Sept. 11 plotters, federal prosecutors said Saturday.

The information provided by the man identified only as Shadi A., who was arrested in April and accused of belonging to an extremist Islamic group called Al Tawhid, was key in providing authorities with enough information to go after Abdelghani Mzoudi, said Fauke Scheuten of the federal prosecutor’s office.

Mzoudi, 29, was arrested Thursday on charges of supporting a terrorist organization. Investigators believe he was a full member of the cell, with close ties to suicide pilots Mohammed Atta, Ziad Jarrah and Marwan al-Shehhi.

Florida: 28 nuclear plant workers exposed to radiation

Federal officials are investigating how 28 nuclear power plant workers were exposed to radiation during a maintenance operation.

Florida Power & Light, owner of the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant at Hutchinson Island, said plant employees and several outside contractors inhaled radioactive particles Oct. 6 during maintenance work on one of the plant’s two units.

The radiation was at a “very low” level, and none of the workers reported feeling sick, the company said.