Gaza Strip

Militants kill 5 Israelis at border crossing

Defying calls by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to halt armed attacks, militants detonated a truck bomb and opened fire Thursday night at a border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel, killing five Israelis and wounding five others before the attackers were killed.

The assault came hours after spokesmen for Hamas and Islamic Jihad said in separate interviews here that the militant groups were prepared to discuss a possible cease-fire with Abbas, who was elected president of the Palestinian Authority on Sunday.

United Nations

Anti-terrorism expert to oversee U.N. security

A Scotland Yard counterterrorism expert was named Thursday to a new post overseeing security and protection for U.N. staffers in 150 countries from Iraq and Afghanistan to Congo and Kosovo.

The appointment of David Veness culminated a lengthy search to fill the role as the world organization’s security operations head after a highly critical report that blamed “dysfunctional” U.N. security for unnecessary casualties in the Aug. 19, 2003, bombing at the world body’s headquarters in Iraq.

Beijing

China defends raid on news conference

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Thursday said South Korean lawmakers visiting China had no right to hold a news conference about North Korean refugees, defending the actions of a presumed group of Chinese agents who broke up the meeting between legislators and reporters at a Beijing hotel.

The raid on the news conference Wednesday has become an international incident, with the South Korean government calling in the Chinese ambassador to Seoul to protest, the Yonhap news agency said.

Poland

New law allows downing of hijacked airliners

A new Polish law gives authorities the power to order hijacked airliners shot down — a post-Sept. 11 measure that underscores growing terrorism concerns in Europe but drew criticism when enacted in Germany.

The law allows the defense minister or air force chief to order the downing of civilian or military aircraft whose hijackers refuse to land.

The law, which took effect Thursday, was introduced to meet “threats in the current world following the Sept. 11 tragedy,” said Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Leszek Laszczak.

Bolivia

Labor strikes end

The cities of Santa Cruz and El Alto returned to normalcy Thursday at the end of labor strikes called to protest the water and oil policies of President Carlos Mesa’s government.

But business leaders allied with labor unions and Indian groups in eastern Santa Cruz — the country’s biggest city and its economic capital — were deciding late Thursday their next step in protesting the government’s decision two weeks ago to raise gasoline prices by 10 percent and diesel prices by 23 percent.

Among the options being considered were withholding taxes due to the central treasury in La Paz and trying to shut down valves of natural gas pipelines.