Algeria

ALGIERS — A fugitive alleged to have played a leading role in a millennium bomb plot in the United States has been arrested in Algeria, security forces said.

East Timor

LISBON, Portugal — East Timor independence leader Xanana Gusmao has resigned as head of the Asian territory's de facto parliament in protest over internal squabbling, Portuguese news agency Lusa said.

England

LONDON — Rescuers looking for a second missing U.S. airman and his F-15C fighter in the Scottish Highlands said the search was being hampered by fresh snow, freezing temperatures and thick fog.

LONDON — Britain has outlawed 21 groups that have been linked to terrorist activity abroad, including Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda, the government said.

France

PARIS — French President Jacques Chirac rejected a summons to testify to an inquiry into a Paris kickback scandal and urged the government to crack down on leakers who revealed it.

India

NEW DELHI — The first test flight of a satellite launcher meant to catapult India into the club of space powers was aborted when one of its engines appeared to catch fire while on the launch pad.

Indonesia

JAKARTA — Indonesia's Mount Lokon volcano belched gas and ash high into the air while a magnitude-5.4 undersea earthquake rattled Sumatra island, geological officials said. The two events were not related, they said. No injuries were reported.

Japan

TOKYO — Lame-duck Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, under fire for skipping a dinner with the king and queen of Norway to chat with political backers over sushi, struck back in his latest tiff with domestic media. "You guys do not listen to anybody and are just being selfish," he told reporters.

Kenya

NAIROBI — Police have detained for questioning three nightwatchmen responsible for protecting the school where 60 teenage Kenyan school boys were killed in a suspicious dormitory fire, police said.

Lebanon

WAZZANI — Lebanon began pumping water from the Hasbani River despite the opposition of nearby Israel, which sent warplanes flying overhead.

New Zealand

WELLINGTON — A tornado carved through the western town of Greymouth, ripping roofs off houses, destroying greenhouses and tearing down trees. There were no injuries.

Oman

MUSCAT — Five Omanis were executed by firing squad after being convicted of murdering three gold traders, police officials said.

Philippines

CAGAYAN DE ORO — Soldiers discovered the skeletal remains of 75 men, women and children in the southern Philippines, 15 years after communist rebels allegedly launched a bloody purge of suspected informers, officials said.

Russia

MOSCOW — Gunmen opened fire on a car parked across from the lower house of Russia's parliament, killing one man and wounding another, police said.

Somalia

MOGADISHU — Five foreign aid workers trapped by militia fighting have been moved to safety in a hotel in the capital but four others were still missing, a Somali official and aid agency representatives said.

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Spain

MADRID — Police detained 186 would-be immigrants aboard four boats off the southern coast of Spain after a body washed ashore, authorities said.

Sri Lanka

COLOMBO — A Sri Lankan Buddhist group said it wants to build an exact replica of the world's largest Buddha statue that was destroyed earlier this month by Afghanistan's Taliban rulers.

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