Chinese leader offers long-term hopes for U.S.

HONOLULU -- Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao, expected to become its next leader, called Saturday for the U.S.-China friendship to "last forever."

As Hu began his first official visit to the United States, leaders from Hawaii Chinese organizations waved American and Chinese flags to greet him.

Following February talks between Chinese President Jiang Zemin and President Bush in Beijing, Hu said his visit was aimed at "strengthening the high-level contact between China and the United States, enhancing mutual understanding and pushing forward the Sino-U.S. constructive and cooperative relationship."

Rocket hits runway near U.S. Kabul headquarters

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A rocket hit a runway near the airport headquarters of the international peacekeeping force in Kabul but failed to explode and caused no damage or casualties, spokesmen for the force said Saturday.

The rocket was fired Friday night, hours before U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld flew into Kabul. Rumsfeld arrived Saturday in a military helicopter that landed at the U.S. Embassy instead of the airport.

Forces at the airport reported hearing several rockets overhead. Group Capt. Steve Abbott, the British commander of the airfield, said he suspected three were fired but could only confirm one.

Crews sent out to locate the firing point on Saturday found the improvised launching pad and three unfired rockets about 2 miles east of the Kabul airfield, said British Lt. Col. Neil Peckham, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force.

Whooping cough makes worldwide comeback

MILAN, Italy -- Whooping cough, largely regarded as an infant disease, is making a global comeback in all age groups, experts said Saturday.

Scientists don't know why but suspect that protection from immunization wears off after a few years and that the bug has outsmarted vaccines used to control it for decades.

Infectious disease specialists meeting in Milan this week said growing numbers of teens, adults and elderly people are carrying the disease unknowingly and spreading it to babies who have not yet been vaccinated.

Whooping cough is caused by the bacteria Bordetella pertussis. It is usually mild in adults but has a high death rate in infants.

In nations where the vaccine is not used, whooping cough is still a major cause of death in children, with an estimated 51 million cases and 600,000 deaths annually.

Egyptian railway workers accused of negligence

CAIRO, Egypt -- Eleven Egyptian railway employees pleaded innocent Saturday to charges of gross negligence that resulted in the deaths of more than 360 people, saying they were the scapegoats in Egypt's worst train disaster.

The low-ranking employees -- including a maintenance engineer, train conductors, and safety personnel -- are accused in the Feb. 20 fire that engulfed a passenger train shortly after it left Cairo. The prosecution said 361 people died, although at the time of the accident, officials put the death toll at 364. The discrepancy could not be immediately reconciled.

--From wire reports