BUENOS AIRES — An Argentine court on Thursday ordered that six former navy officers accused of torturing and killing dissidents during the 1976-1983 dictatorship be freed on bail, including two of the most notorious suspects.

The ruling sparked outrage among human rights activists who said it reflected the Argentine judicial system's incapacity to effectively try war-crimes suspects. But they said the trials would still proceed even if the men are not in prison.

A three-judge panel ruled that the ex-officers' be released on bail because their trials had taken too long, with the men spending more than five years in detention without a verdict.

Brazil: More troops sought

BRASILIA — Brazil will beef up troops in its vast Amazon rain forest, build nuclear and conventional submarines to protect offshore oil fields and modernize its weapons industry under a national defense plan outlined in a report Thursday.

Strategic Affairs Minister Roberto Mangabeira Unger said the plan calls for investments to modernize and equip the armed forces, create a rapid-deployment force and update its weapons industry.

Officials did not provide a cost estimate.

Chile: Quake hits

SANTIAGO — A powerful earthquake shook central Chile on Thursday, alarming residents of the nation's second-largest city, but apparently causing no major damage, officials said.

The 6.3-magnitude quake struck at 6:19 p.m. local time and was centered about 45 miles north of Valparaiso, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The Seismological Institute of the University of Chile said the quake's magnitude was 5.9.

The quake was followed by two aftershocks, one of which the USGS measured at magnitude 5.8.

Ireland: Tainted cattle

DUBLIN — Lab tests on cattle at four Irish farms have found much higher levels of cancer-causing dioxins than initially thought, government agency officials said Thursday, but they stressed that the problem still posed no risk to public health.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland said tests conducted over the past week at an English lab found dioxin levels 100 to 400 times higher than legal limits. That conflicted starkly with an initial announcement last week that the contamination levels were two to three times above those limits.