Belgium: Diamond theft may be record

Thieves emptied more than 100 vaults at a diamond trading center in what officials said might be the largest theft ever in Antwerp, the gem trading capital of the world.

Authorities were still trying Tuesday to determine the amount of the loss from the cellar of a building that houses dozens of gem trading companies in a city that has been a center of the trade in precious stones since the 16th century.

Previously, the largest theft in Antwerp occurred in 1994, when thieves cleaned out five vaults in the Diamond Center for a loss of $4.55 million. The total in the weekend burglary was likely to be much larger, said Youri Steverlynck, a spokesman for the High Diamond Council.

South Korea: Threat from North dismissed

South Korea shrugged off a threat by North Korea Tuesday to abandon the armistice agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War. Officials in the South said the dispute over the North’s nuclear program isn’t as dangerous as some in Washington believe.

“I believe the danger of war on the Korean Peninsula is slight — in fact, nonexistent,” President Kim Dae Jung told his cabinet Tuesday morning, according to a statement from his office. Kim did not mention the armistice threat specifically.

In Washington, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the North’s threat would “only serve to hurt, isolate and move North Korea backward.” He advised being “judicious” about it, saying, “There is a lengthy history of bravado to some of their statements.”

Bahrain: Navy enlists sea lions

Move over Navy SEALs: There’s a new sea creature in town.

Make way for Zachary, the 19-year-old sea lion, one of the U.S. Navy’s new secret weapons in any war against Iraq.

Brought to the Persian Gulf to swim alongside naval vessels and key facilities in this kingdom, Zachary and the other whiskered sea mammals will guard against attack, providing early warning of enemy saboteurs.

“If there is somebody down there who shouldn’t be there, the sea lions will find them,” said Lt. J.G. Josh Frey, a spokesman for the Navy’s 5th Fleet.