Brazil: TV killings?

BRASILIA — A lead prosecutor on Wednesday accused a television crime show host of attempting to have a federal judge assassinated, adding to allegations that he set up killings to boost his TV ratings.

Crime-show host Wallace Souza — a former policeman accused of setting up at least five killings — tried to have the judge killed in 2007, said Ronaldo Andrade, a prosecutor in Amazonas state.

Souza — who has been charged with drug trafficking, gang formation and weapons possession, but not in any killings — denies all the accusations.

Andrade and investigators also say Souza ordered the murders of at least five competing drug traffickers — and of then getting a crew from his "Canal Livre" crime show on the scene before police.

Britain: Car prowl

LONDON — British police are combing the upscale London neighborhood of Richmond, looking for things to steal.

Scotland Yard said Tuesday that officers in the southwest London borough would be checking unlocked cars for precious items — and sometimes taking them — as a reminder to owners to keep their doors locked, their windows closed and valuables with them.

The force said officers would either write to owners of the unsecured vehicles telling them to be more careful or — if they spotted high-value items in the car — "remove the property for safekeeping." A note would be left for the owners.

Iraq: Picasso found

BAGHDAD — Special forces have recovered a stolen Picasso and arrested a man planning to sell the painting during a raid of his house in southern Iraq, Iraqi police said Wednesday.

The painting, "The Naked Woman," apparently had been among the artwork looted from Kuwait during Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion, said police spokesman Maj. Muthana Khalid.

It was seized Tuesday during a raid on the house belonging to the suspect near the mainly Shiite city of Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad.

Khalid said the man was trying to sell the painting for $450,000, but experts who saw the painting said it was worth $10 million.

Somalia: Escape

MOGADISHU — A French security agent kidnapped by insurgents in Somalia last month said he escaped Wednesday while his captors slept, then walked five hours through one of the most dangerous cities in the world to safety at the country's presidential palace.

Marc Aubriere, who was seized along with another agent in July 14, denied reports that he killed any of his captors during his escape.

"The militants who were holding me treated me well, they were giving me nice food," he told The Associated Press before boarding a plane to leave Mogadishu.

He said he escaped at midnight when his guards were sleepy.

He told France's RFI radio that he was "using the starlight to guide me ... Mogadishu at night is deserted and all the men that you cross paths with are armed. I was fired upon, I ran and hid and luckily they missed me."

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Taiwan: Visit OK'd

TAIPEI — Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou says his government has agreed to a visit by the Dalai Lama to comfort survivors of a devastating typhoon.

Such a visit is likely to anger China, which considers the Buddhist spiritual leader a "splittist" for promoting Tibetan autonomy. The move comes at a time when China and Taiwan are developing closer ties after decades of enmity. China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949.

Ma made the surprise announcement Thursday as he visited a school that was destroyed in mudslides triggered by Typhoon Morakot that hit Aug. 8-9. The storm claimed 670 lives.

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