Britain
LONDON — A British military jet shot down by a U.S. missile during the Iraq war was hit after a failure of the electronic system identified it as a friendly aircraft, the government said Friday. A U.S. Patriot missile battery shot down the Tornado GR4A near the Iraq-Kuwait border on March 23, 2003, killing both crew members. The jet was returning from a mission over Iraq.
Chad
PARIS — A rebel group in Chad says it has captured one of North Africa's most notorious terrorists, an Algerian extremist suspected in the hostage-taking of 32 European tourists last year. Amari Saifi and nine others were apprehended after a brief firefight in March with members of the Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad and are being held at an undisclosed location in a rebel-controlled zone, a rebel representative said Friday.
Cuba
HAVANA — Hundreds of thousands of red-clad Cubans marched with Fidel Castro past the U.S. diplomatic mission Friday, chanting support for the Cuban leader while depicting President Bush as Hitler for moving to tighten the 44-year embargo of the communist state. Castro launched the demonstration with denunciations and ridicule of Bush, saying he was fraudulently elected and trying to impose "world tyranny." The government-organized demonstration lasted just over six hours.
Italy
ROME — Italian drivers who like to use roads as their personal speedways are about to lose the race. Italy's state police presented a sleek new addition to their fleet Friday: a Lamborghini Gallardo, with a top speed of 192 mph. The car is ready for service, fitted with a siren and painted blue and white with the word "POLIZIA" — "police" — stenciled on the side.
Japan
TOKYO — Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi missed premium payments into Japan's troubled pension system, his office said Friday, implicating him in the damaging scandal that already has forced the resignations of his top lieutenant and the No. 1 opposition leader. The prime minister, who skipped payments for a total of about 6 1/2 years, said he had no intention of resigning as he had opted out of the system at a time when he was not required to join.
Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR — Alleged members of an al-Qaida-linked extremist group jailed in Malaysia were routinely stripped naked, slapped, kicked and subjected to sexual abuse by police interrogators, according to a human rights document obtained by the Associated Press. Security officials have said the questioning produced information about plots by Jemaah Islamiyah to bomb U.S. and other Western interests in Singapore and other extremist operations in Southeast Asia.
Myanmar
YANGON — Myanmar's military government announced Friday it would go ahead with a constitution-drafting convention next week without the country's main pro-democracy party. The National League for Democracy announced it would boycott the convention because of the junta's refusal to release its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and accept other demands.
Nigeria
KANO — Tens of thousands of hungry, frightened Nigerians sought safety in police stations and military barracks Friday after two weeks of sectarian violence left hundreds dead. Some 30,000 people, many of them Ibo-speaking Christians, huddled in six security force installations in this heavily Muslim northern city — site of deadly attacks on Christians this week — said Mohammed Balarabe, a state emergency agency official.
Poland
WARSAW — Poland's new prime minister, Marek Belka, lost a parliamentary confidence vote Friday, prolonging uncertainty over free-market reforms but leaving the country's mission in Iraq on track. The lower house of parliament voted 262-188 against Belka, appointed prime minister on May 2 after his unpopular predecessor, Leszek Miller, stepped down.
South Korea
SEOUL — Reinstated by a historic court ruling, President Roh Moo-hyun embarked Friday on a new era of liberal politics in the face of challenges on the economy, North Korea and the country's troop deployment to Iraq. Friday's ruling reversed an opposition-backed March 12 parliamentary impeachment vote and ended months of political paralysis in the world's 12th-largest economy.
Spain
MADRID — Police arrested four Algerians and a Spaniard on suspicion of recruiting Islamic extremists and providing false travel documents for travel to al-Qaida training camps, the Interior Ministry confirmed Friday.
Taiwan
TAIPEI — Taiwanese police said Friday they have arrested two men who might have been involved in an unexplained March 19 shooting that slightly wounded President Chen Shui-bian one day before his disputed re-election. The men were caught with a handgun and bullets similar to those used to shoot the president, investigator Wang Chong-jong told reporters in the southern city of Kaohsiung.
Vatican
VATICAN CITY — Catholics should welcome Muslim immigrants without prejudice, and Muslims must also respect the values of a democracy — including equality between men and women, the Vatican said Friday.