Afghanistan
KABUL — Mullah Mohammed Omar, the reclusive leader of the Taliban, said in a letter Friday that international troops face a "thumping defeat" in Afghanistan and that he hoped they would flee soon. The authenticity of the letter could not be independently verified.
Brazil
RIO DE JANEIRO — In less than two months, four young women have died in widely publicized cases of anorexia in Brazil, causing a national debate about body image and eating disorders. In the latest incident, Beatriz Cristina Ferraz Bastos, a 23-year-old student and office worker, died on Christmas Eve, weighing just 75 pounds.
Chile
SANTIAGO — Thirteen former dictatorship-era security agents were sentenced Friday to prison terms ranging from five to 18 years for four killings committed in revenge for the bloody 1986 assassination attempt of dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet. The sentences announced by judge Haroldo Brito are expected to be appealed.
England
LONDON — The Northern Ireland peace process cleared a major hurdle Friday when the Sinn Fein leadership agreed to drop its decades-long opposition to local policing. The breakthrough came after weeks of quiet negotiations< that involved Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern and Britain's Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain.
LONDON — Rough seas swept four American sailors from the deck of a U.S. nuclear submarine off the coast of southwestern England on Friday, killing two of them, authorities said. Lt. Chris Servello, a spokesman for the U.S. 6th Fleet in Naples, Italy, said the four men were taken to a hospital in Plymouth, where two were pronounced dead.
France
PARIS — A 19-year-old woman spent three days trapped in the elevator of her suburban Paris apartment building after leaving home to buy a loaf of bread, judicial officials said Friday. The woman, identified only as Safiatou, disappeared Dec. 19. An elevator repairman discovered the mentally handicapped woman, shivering and dehydrated, on Dec. 22.
Guatemala
GUATEMALA CITY — Guatemala's president pledged Friday to revive constitutional reforms promised in peace deals that ended the country's civil war a decade ago. President Oscar Berge's pledge came two days before the 10th anniversary of the U.N.-brokered peace accords that ended Latin America's bloodiest conflict of the 20th century.
Netherlands
AMSTERDAM — A group of brothel owners that represents nearly a third of the prostitutes in Amsterdam's famed red light district have challenged a decision to revoke their licenses, the city said Friday. The city notified the owners of 37 brothels and sex show venues on Nov. 30 they would be closed because of suspected involvement in money laundering.
Nigeria
ABUJA — Nigeria's population has nearly doubled to an estimated 140 million people since the last count in 1991, according to census figures released Friday. Population growth in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, is currently running at 3.2 percent, said Samu'ila Danko Makama, chairman of the National Population Commission.
Philippines
MANILA — A U.S. Marine convicted of raping a Filipino woman was whisked away from a Manila jail to the U.S. Embassy Friday, a spokesman said, almost a month after the U.S. and Philippine governments urged a local court to transfer him to American custody during his appeal. Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith, 21, was convicted and sentenced to 40 years on Dec. 4.