World datelines

China: Tigers die

BEIJING — Eleven rare Siberian tigers kept in small cages and fed only chicken bones have died of malnutrition at a cash-strapped zoo in China's frigid northeast, state media said Friday. A manager at the Shenyang Forest Wild Animal Zoo in Liaoning province, however, said the animals had died of disease. Siberian tigers are one of the world's rarest species, with just 300 believed remaining.

Somalia: Food aid

ROME — A U.N. food agency said Thursday it will cooperate with any independent probe into its food operations in Somalia, after a report found that up to half the food aid intended for the nation's hungry people does not reach its destination. The report said food aid in Somalia is being diverted to corrupt contractors, radical Islamic militants and local U.N. workers. It calls on U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to authorize an independent investigation of the World Food Program.

Haiti: Duo freed

PORT-AU-PRINCE — Kidnappers have freed two Swiss women snatched off the streets of Haiti's capital and held for five days, officials said Thursday. It is the first reported kidnapping since Haiti suffered a magnitude-7 earthquake with catastrophic damage on Jan. 12. More than 5,000 prisoners fled jails that collapsed or were damaged in the temblor. Only about 200 have been captured.

Japan: Activist held

TOKYO — Japan's coast guard arrested an anti-whaling activist from New Zealand on Friday for boarding a whaling ship without permission last month, in the latest incident in the ongoing battle over Japanese whaling. Peter Bethune, a member of the U.S.-based Sea Shepherd activist group, is accused of jumping aboard the whaling vessel from a Jet Ski on Feb. 15 in Antarctic seas, where Japan was conducting its annual whale hunt. He faces a possible 3-year prison term and a fine up to 100,000 yen ($1,100).

Thailand: Protest

BANGKOK — The Thai capital braced for possible violence as anti-government activists launched what they hope will be one of the country's biggest protests in an effort to force Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to call new elections. Leaders of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship have vowed to keep their "million-man march" nonviolent. Demonstrators started meeting around the country Friday and plan to converge on the Thai capital on Sunday.