India

Statue of Hindu god topples, killing one

A giant statue of a Hindu god toppled this week, killing at least one worker and injuring several others, police said Thursday.

The 108-foot statue of the Hindu god Krishna, shown at right, collapsed Monday in the village of Narsinghpur on the outskirts of the Indian capital, local police officer Ram Kisan said.

Kisan confirmed one death. But the Dainik Jagran, a Hindi newspaper, said at least two workers were crushed under the concrete statue and died at the scene. It said at least a dozen others were injured, four of them critically.

Pakistan

Al-Qaida suspects arrested after shootout

Pakistani police and FBI agents — acting after a month of surveillance — stormed a house Thursday on the outskirts of Pakistan’s largest city, arresting three suspected al-Qaida operatives in a hail of gunfire and grenades.

Police said at least two foreigners, both apparently of Middle Eastern origin and suspected of being linked to Osama bin Laden’s terror network, were among nine people arrested. It was the third arrest of terrorism suspects in Karachi in less than a month.

The suspects’ names were not released.

Venezuela

Bank workers strike; currency plummets

Thousands of Venezuelan bank workers stayed home Thursday to support a nationwide strike seeking new presidential elections, further weakening the currency as analysts speculate the government of Hugo Chavez is running out of money.

Chavez supporters, meanwhile, attacked several opposition demonstrations at oil facilities throughout the country.

The strike begun Dec. 2 has brought Venezuela’s oil industry — a top U.S. supplier and once the world’s fifth-largest exporter — to a virtual halt.

Ivory Coast

Fighting breaks out despite cease-fire vows

Fighting flared Thursday in Ivory Coast’s volatile southwest, despite fresh promises from government troops and rebel leaders to stop hostilities and begin peace talks to resolve the 4-month-old war.

The government and a western rebel group traded blame for the new fighting in the West African nation, the world’s largest cocoa producer.

The fighting came despite promises to try to resolve the war that has crippled the former French colony, a regional economic powerhouse.