World datelines

Kenya: Tourists killed

NAIROBI — Sharon Brown, 38, of New York, was hiking with family and her 1-year-old daughter in a Kenyan nature reserve when suddenly their unarmed guide froze in his tracks. Around a corner was an elephant.

The guide shouted to turn back, but it was too late. The elephant — which was protecting a calf nearby — gored the young American mother, tossed her in the air and dragged her body into the forest, a relative said. The baby, who was flung out of her carrier, also died.

Iran: U.S. hikers

TEHRAN — A senior Iranian lawmaker said Thursday the United States should not expect the release anytime soon of three American hikers detained by his country since July.

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of parliament's powerful committee on national security and foreign policy, said the United States had kept five Iranian diplomats in custody for a long time after detaining them in northern Iraq in January 2007, so it "should not be in hurry for the release of the three" hikers.

Israel: Name decried

JERUSALEM — Israel has complained to the U.S. over what it called incitement to violence and glorification of militants by the Western-backed Palestinian government, a senior official said Thursday.

The official denounced the naming of a square in the West Bank city of Ramallah after Dalal Mughrabi, one of the hijackers of an Israeli bus in 1978, when 38 Israelis were killed. The Israeli official expressed "disappointment" that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas lent his name to the ceremony.

Malaysia: Church fire

KUALA LUMPUR — Unidentified attackers set fire to a church in Malaysia early Friday amid a growing conflict in the country over the use of the word "Allah" by non-Muslims, officials said.

Only the first floor office of the Metro Tabernacle Church was destroyed in the blaze that started a little after midnight Thursday, said church spokesman Kevin Ang.

Britain: Eurostar

LONDON — Eurostar was hit by new problems Thursday as a high-speed train traveling from Brussels to London was stuck in the Channel Tunnel for about two hours because of what the company called a technical problem.