London

Diana memorial fountain to close for more repairs

It has been fenced in, clogged with leaves, overrun with visitors and even used as a dog bath.

Now the Princess Diana memorial fountain, shown above, is to close again to replace surrounding grass that has become sodden with splashing water, park officials said Tuesday.

And the memorial’s creator, American architect Kathryn Gustafson, has acknowledged design flaws in the fountain.

The granite oval in London’s Hyde Park will shut for an unspecified period in the next few weeks so the surrounding turf can be replanted, a spokesman for the Royal Parks said.

Workers also will install steel bars below bridges over the fountain to prevent children climbing under and becoming trapped.

The memorial was unveiled amid great fanfare by Queen Elizabeth II on July 6.

Jerusalem

Al-Qaida blamed for Egypt bombings

The Israeli army believes that al-Qaida carried out three car bombings in Egypt last week that killed at least 34 people, Israel’s military chief said Tuesday.

Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon told parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the army’s intelligence latest assessment was “the international jihad” carried out the attacks in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, participants in the meeting said. The participants said Yaalon was referring to al-Qaida.

The attacks occurred at sites popular with Israeli tourists, and at least 13 Israelis were among the dead.

Egypt has not said who it believes was behind the attack. Its investigators have been questioning dozens of Bedouin tribesmen detained after the attacks.

Haiti

Forty-six killed in Aristide skirmishes

Violence in Haiti’s capital has claimed at least 46 lives, with hospital records showing Tuesday that 17 victims were shot and killed this week. Many shops and markets remained closed as hulks of torched cars and bonfires of tires smoldered in the streets.

Port-au-Prince has been beset by gunbattles and beheadings since a Sept. 30 demonstration marking the 1991 coup that first overthrew President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In February, the former priest fled the country again after a three-week revolt led by a street gang and former soldiers.

Tensions still are simmering with Aristide supporters demanding his return and an end to the “invasion” by foreign troops. U.S. Marines arrived in Haiti the day Aristide left and were replaced by U.N. peacekeepers sent in June to stabilize the country.

Afghanistan

U.N. helicopter crashes on election mission

Engine failure brought down a U.N. helicopter sent to collect ballot boxes from northeastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, injuring no one but causing a new glitch in efforts to tally the results of the country’s landmark presidential election.

The accident came as a panel of foreign experts began probing irregularities in Saturday’s vote alleged by rivals of interim leader Hamid Karzai.

The complaints have stalled the start of vote-counting, though officials were hopeful the tally could begin today. Final results could take until late October.

The helicopter had yet to pick up any ballot boxes when it crash-landed in a snowy field in the Pamir mountains of Badakhshan province, said David Avery, chief of operations for the U.N.-Afghan body managing the vote.