From Deseret News archives:
World datelines
Austria
KUFSTEIN — Authorities in Germany and Austria said Saturday they may allow hunters to shoot a marauding brown bear nicknamed Bruno after recent efforts to capture him alive failed. Anton Steiner, the forestry minister in the Austrian state of Tyrol, said the bear was a potential danger to humans. He has been on the loose since last month.
China
HONG KONG — A magnitude-6.2 earthquake struck central Indonesia on Sunday, the Hong Kong Observatory said. The quake, recorded at 4:20 a.m. local time, was centered 180 miles southwest of the city of Manado on Indonesia's central Sulawesi island. It was not immediately clear whether the tremor caused any damages or casualties.
Gaza Strip
GAZA CITY — Israeli commandos on Saturday carried out the first arrest raid in the Gaza Strip since Israel's withdrawal from the coastal area last year, seizing two Hamas militants in a swift overnight operation. The raid, completed in one hour under the cover of darkness, came as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was in Gaza trying to work out final details on a power-sharing agreement with the Hamas-led government.
Germany
BERLIN — Iran's foreign minister said he had "constructive talks" with his German counterpart Saturday but gave no indication of when Tehran would respond to international incentives to halt its nuclear program. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after meeting with Manouchehr Mottaki that Iran and the international community "are at a decisive phase: either the conflict goes on or we seize the chance and the way to comprehensive cooperation with Iran.
Kenya
NAIROBI — A global anti-corruption group fired the executive director of its Kenya chapter, accusing him of misusing at least $26,800 through double billing and other financial improprieties. Mwalimu Mati denied the allegations Saturday and said his former employer, Transparency International, is "an appendage of a corrupt system that is strangling our country."
Philippines
MANILA — Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed a law abolishing the death penalty on Saturday, giving final approval to a measure that divided many Filipinos. Arroyo, who like most of her people is Roman Catholic, sought to assure the nation that her opposition to capital punishment had not undermined her commitment to fighting crime.
Russia
MOSCOW — A Russian cargo spacecraft carrying food and supplies blasted off Saturday for the international space station, mission control said. The unmanned Progress M-57 ship lifted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at about 9:08 a.m. MDT, Russian mission control spokesman Valery Lyndin said. The spacecraft is scheduled to dock at the orbiting space station on Monday.
