World datelines

Afghanistan

KANDAHAR — Afghan forces have trapped up to 200 Taliban fighters in a southern village, possibly including the militia's military commander, demanding they surrender or come under attack, Afghan officials said Monday. Afghan police and government officials said the suspected Taliban fighters were surrounded as they gathered for a meeting in the mountain village of Keshay in Uruzgan province on Saturday.

Canada

OTTAWA — Canada will investigate allegations that Taliban prisoners captured by its forces in Afghanistan were abused by Afghan authorities, Canada's prime minister said Monday, after dozens of detainees told a newspaper they had been choked, starved and given electric shocks.

Chile

SANTIAGO — The government said Monday it will evacuate residents and businesses from the banks of a fjord in southern Chile where 10 people were swept away Sunday by 26-foot waves following a powerful earthquake.

China

BEIJING — Beijing's oldest opera hall, built during the Ming Dynasty, will be torn down to make way for a modern theater, state media reported Monday. The Guanghe theater, declared unsafe in 2000, dates to the final years of the Ming Dynasty, which lasted from 1368-1644, Xinhua News Agency said. Initially the villa of a rich salt merchant, it was rebuilt several times, most recently in 1955.

Cuba

HAVANA — A veteran dissident leader who wrote a book about Cuban prison conditions while behind bars was freed over the weekend after serving his entire 17-year sentence, rights groups said Monday. Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, widely known by the nickname "Antunez," was released Sunday morning from prison in the central province of Villa Clara, the opposition group Bitacora Cubana said in a statement.

Iran

TEHRAN — With the arrival of spring, Iranian police have launched a crackdown against women accused of not covering up enough, arresting nearly 300 women, some for wearing too tight an overcoat or letting too much hair peek out from under their veil, authorities said Monday.