Afghanistan

Rebels kill two Americans, wound eight

Rebel rockets struck U.S. troops unloading supplies from a helicopter in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing two and wounding eight in one of the bloodiest assaults on American forces since insurgent violence picked up in March.

The killings came a day after the Afghan government warned that Taliban and al-Qaida fighters were waging a campaign of violence in hopes of undermining legislative elections in September, although the rebels failed to disrupt last fall’s presidential vote.

After the explosions at the base in Shkin, 4 miles from the border with Pakistan, U.S. warplanes and attack helicopters rushed to the scene to search for the attackers, but found no trace of them, Lt. Col. Jerry O’Hara said.

Mexico

Volcano of Fire forces evacuations

The Volcano of Fire has rumbled back to life with its strongest eruptions in 20 years, spewing lava and ash clouds that had some residents who remained in their homes Wednesday casting nervous glances at the peak.

The volcano, which straddles the line between Colima and Jalisco states 430 miles west of Mexico City, has had six spectacular eruptions in the past three weeks.

The largest, late Monday, shot glowing lava three miles above the crater of the 12,533-foot volcano and showered ash over the nearby city of Colima.

“The ground shook, and there was this roar, and people came running out of their houses,” said Maria de Jesus Chavez, a 17-year-old high school student, as she sat outside her home in San Marcos.

Berlin

Researchers discover unknown Bach aria

A previously unknown work by Johann Sebastian Bach has been discovered in a crate of 18th-century birthday cards removed from a German library shortly before it was devastated by fire, researchers said Wednesday.

Experts say the aria for soprano and string or keyboard accompaniment composed for a German duke’s birthday is the first new music from the renowned composer to surface in three decades.

Researcher Michael Maul of the Bach Archiv foundation found the composition, dated October 1713, last month in the eastern city of Weimar. The Leipzig-based foundation said there was no doubt about the authenticity of the handwritten, two-page score.

“It is no major composition but an occasional work in the form of an exquisite and highly refined strophic aria, Bach’s only contribution to a musical genre popular in late 17th-century Germany,” said Christoph Wolff, the foundation’s director and a professor at Harvard University.

Senegal

U.S. forces training in northern Africa

U.S. forces began military training exercises with allies across northern Africa this week, part of a stepped-up campaign against terrorism on the continent, a spokeswoman said Wednesday in Senegal.

The two-week training initiative began Monday in Chad, Mauritania, Mali, Niger and, for the first time, Algeria.

The exercises in Algeria took on added urgency after Islamic insurgents linked to the al-Qaida network launched a weekend raid into Mauritania that left 24 dead.

Algeria’s Salafist Group for Call and Combat, which has been linked to al-Qaida and is listed by the U.S. as a terrorist organization, claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack on a remote Mauritanian army outpost that left 15 troops and nine insurgents dead – just the kind of violence officials are hoping to avert.

“This is the reason they understand that they have to work together now,” Maj. Holly Silkman said of the countries involved in the exercises.

Gaza Strip

Palestinian leader in Gaza to stabilize truce

The Palestinian leader traveled to Gaza on Wednesday to reinforce a shaky truce with Israel and settle disputes with militant groups, but violence punctuated his visit as fighters fired rockets at Jewish settlements and Israel responded with an airstrike.

Mahmoud Abbas was expected to remain in Gaza for several days, having talks with Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders as well as his own Fatah party about a range of issues.

For the second day in a row, Hamas and Islamic Jihad cells aimed rockets and mortar shells at Jewish settlements. No casualties were reported. Three workers were killed by a mortar shell Tuesday.

Israel hit back Wednesday afternoon. In a strike clearly designed to limit political fallout, an Israeli aircraft fired missiles at a mortar launcher and an empty vehicle, while the militants escaped.

Nepal

Protesting journalists arrested in capital

Police arrested 53 journalists Wednesday as they protested press restrictions in this Himalayan nation where the king seized absolute power earlier this year, a media rights group said.

The journalists, chanting and carrying banners calling for press freedom, were arrested after they tried to march into the streets near the royal palace complex.

Many of the streets near the palace complex and the main government offices in other parts of Katmandu have become restricted areas since King Gyanendra began running the country on Feb. 1.

Media groups demanded the immediate release of all the journalists arrested.

Balram Baniya of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists, who was among those arrested, said police dragged and injured some of the journalists.