GENEVA

Earth’s ozone hole more persistent than usual

The ozone hole over the South Pole, already as large as it has ever been, is also lasting longer this year, heightening concern about harmful UV radiation reaching the Earth, the United Nations’ weather organization said Friday.

Compounding matters, the thinnest area is the largest ever measured, roughly two-thirds of the hole’s total size, the World Meteorological Organization said.

The “hole” is a thinner-than-normal area in the protective layer of gas high in the earth’s atmosphere. It has formed in August — the end of the Antarctic winter — every year since the mid-1980s, largely due to chemical pollution.

JERUSALEM

Israeli troops wound 3 in raid on coffee shop

Israeli troops raided a West Bank coffee shop filled with men playing cards Friday morning, wounding three and arresting more than a dozen others during a search for fugitives, Palestinian officials said. The Israeli army said its soldiers fired at three men who had ignored orders to halt.

Military officials said troops did not fire into the coffee shop. An Associated Press reporter counted eight bullet holes in the windows of the coffee shop and 11 more inside, and saw glass shards on the floor.

The raid came hours before Israel announced it was sealing off the West Bank and Gaza Strip — keeping about 3 million Palestinians from entering Israel and preventing Palestinian residents of the West Bank from leaving their communities.

HAVANA

Cuban advocate submits petition for democracy

A leading democracy advocate delivered more than 14,000 signatures to Cuba’s parliament Friday demanding a referendum for political changes, just six months after the Fidel Castro government’s major crackdown on dissenters.

This is the second straight year activist Oswaldo Paya delivered thousands of signatures to the government as part of the Varela Project — considered the biggest homegrown, nonviolent effort for reforms in Cuba’s one-party system.

Last year, he delivered 11,020 signatures to the National Assembly.

Pakistan

18 al-Qaida suspects questioned after raid

Authorities questioned 18 al-Qaida suspects Friday, trying to determine the identities and loyalties of the men captured in Pakistan’s largest raid against Osama bin Laden’s terror network.

It was not yet known if any top-ranking al-Qaida figures were among the captured, three of whom were wounded in Thursday’s battle at a compound in the dusty hills of South Waziristan, a rugged tribal area on the Afghan border.

Interrogators sought to find out the men’s names and nationalities, what links they had to al-Qaida and what contacts — if any — they’ve had with bin Laden, an intelligence official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Pakistan

Six space workers killed as gunmen attack bus

Gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Shiite Muslim employees of Pakistan’s space agency in this southern port city on Friday, killing six and wounding at least six others.

The attack occurred as about 20 workers were on their way to a mosque for Friday prayers, said Athar Rashid Butt, a senior police official. The gunmen were on motorcycles and fled after the shooting.

Butt said six people were killed. Two wounded people were listed at a hospital in critical condition, he said.

Afghanistan

Probe seeks cause of deadly explosion

Investigators Friday searched the site of an explosion that killed two Canadian peacekeepers and wounded three others to determine whether the blast was a deliberate attack or an accident.

The explosion occurred Thursday while the peacekeepers were patrolling in a hilly area on the outskirts of the Afghan capital. Canadian engineers had checked for mines 24 hours earlier along the sandy track upon which the peacekeepers were traveling.

“It’s too early to say whether this is a deliberate attack,” said Canadian Gen. Andrew Leslie, the deputy commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

Colombia

Rebels claim to have downed U.S. plane

Colombia’s smaller rebel army said it shot down a State Department plane that crashed last month, killing its Costa Rican pilot, while fumigating cocaine-producing crops.

It was the first claim of responsibility in the Sept. 21 downing of the OV-10 plane in northeastern Colombia. Mario Alvarado, the pilot, was the sixth U.S. government contractor killed in Colombia this year.

The claim by the National Liberation Army, seen Friday, was posted on the insurgent group’s Web site.

The State Department earlier acknowledged the plane apparently was “struck by hostile ground fire” during operations in Catatumbo.