Washington: Report says fingerprints tie sniper suspect to slaying

Prosecutors and investigators have linked sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad to at least two shootings, including one that left a man dead at a Virginia gas station, The Washington Post reported Sunday.

The newspaper, citing four law enforcement sources who asked that they not be identified, reported a fingerprint found on a street map booklet found at the Manassas, Va., station where Dean Harold Meyers was killed Oct.9 belonged to Muhammad.

The map was stolen from a library in Montgomery County, the newspaper said, quoting sources, and Muhammad’s fingerprint on the map places him at the scene.

Muhammad, 42, and John Lee Malvo, 17, have been accused of shooting 18 people, killing 13 and wounding five in five states and Washington, D.C.

Chicago: Bomb threat causes flight to be diverted

A bomb threat caused a Lufthansa Airlines flight from Frankfurt, Germany to Mexico City to make an emergency landing Saturday at O’Hare International Airport, officials said.

The Boeing 747-400 carrying 392 passengers and 19 crew landed about 4:20 p.m., Chicago Department of Aviation spokeswoman Monique Bond said.

“There were no injuries; the aircraft landed safely,” Bond said. “The aircraft is going to be searched.”

The passengers were expected to spend the night in Chicago and resume their flight this morning, Lufthansa spokesman Tom Tripp said.

Ivory Coast: Rebels agree to enter talks with government

Ivory Coast’s main rebel movement Saturday agreed to Paris peace talks with the government after mediation by the French foreign minister in a diplomatic push to end the crippling war in France’s former West African colony.

“We are anxious to spare the lives of our people,” said rebel leader Guillaume Soro after a two-hour meeting with French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin. Soro also promised his forces would respect a repeatedly violated cease-fire with government forces.

The rebel promises came a day after de Villepin secured pledges from President Laurent Gbagbo to halt hostilities and evict foreign mercenaries fighting with loyalist troops.

Iraq: U.N. weapons inspectors broaden search to north

U.N. weapons inspectors began setting up a new office Saturday in the northern city of Mosul to broaden the range of their searches.

A team of experts in various weapons fields drove from Baghdad to Mosul 250 miles north in a convoy of white U.N. vans. The inspectors have visited sites near the city before, but they’ve then had to return samples and equipment to Baghdad.

The new base “will serve as a convenient location to conduct inspections, particularly in the north,” U.N. spokesman Hiro Ueki said early Saturday before the team left for Mosul.