England: Evacuation
LONDON — Police closed and evacuated part of Manchester Airport on Saturday after discovering a man preparing to board a flight was carrying a white powder in his hand luggage, but the substance turned out to be harmless.
For several hours, the check-in area where the powder was discovered was cordoned off by police, passengers were checked in at other terminals, and the man carrying the substance was questioned. But the precautions ended and the man was released after the power was analyzed by police. Officer Leor Giladi declined to identify the substance but said it could not have been used as an explosive.
Honduras: Zelaya going
TEGUCIGALPA — Ousted President Manuel Zelaya confirmed Saturday he will leave Honduras and travel to the Dominican Republic this week when a new president is sworn into office.
Zelaya told Radio Globo he will leave Honduras as a private citizen, thanks to an accord signed by President-elect Porfirio Lobo and Dominican President Leonel Fernandez. Zelaya was ousted in a June 2009 coup during his effort to change the constitution that the Supreme Court had ruled illegal.
Italy: Blogging on high
VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI has a new commandment for priests struggling to get their message across: Go forth and blog.
The pope urged priests on Saturday to use all multimedia tools at their disposal to preach the Gospel and engage in dialogue with people of other religions and cultures. And just using e-mail or surfing the Web is often not enough: Priests should use cutting-edge technologies to express themselves and lead their communities, Benedict said.
Japan: Taliban $$
TOKYO — The Japanese and British governments have agreed with the government of Afghanistan to establish an international fund of $500 million (about 45 billion yen) for a program to help draw former Taliban insurgents back to civilian life, sources said.
Under the rehabilitation program, the fund will be used for job training and provide former Taliban militants with living expenses during their transition to civilian life.
Saudi Arabia: Bodies
RIYADH — Saudi forces have recovered the bodies of 20 soldiers who had been reported missing in fierce battles with Yemeni rebels on the border, the assistant defense minister said Saturday, raising the Saudi death toll in the conflict to 133.
Prince Khaled bin Sultan said the bodies were found after troops cleared the rebels out of areas near Dokhan mountain.