Nation/world briefs 6/11/04

Congo's military seeks to calm reprisal fears

BUKAVU, Congo -- Congo's regional military commander on Thursday promised no reprisal attacks after retaking this eastern border town from renegade commanders, urging the return of thousands of civilians who fled the region. A delegation of Congo's transition government arrived by plane from the capital, Kinshasa, to demonstrate that government authority extended to the restive eastern border.

Exercise better than calcium for strong bones

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Got exercise? A recent study indicates that exercise is more important than calcium in developing strong bones in girls and young women. Researchers at Penn State University and Johns Hopkins University found that even when girls took in far less calcium than the recommended daily allowance, bone strength was not significantly affected, said Tom Lloyd of Penn State's College of Medicine at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. However, when the girls were asked about their exercise habits, a strong correlation was found between exercise and bone strength.

Millions of children work in slave-like conditions

GENEVA -- An estimated 10 million children worldwide are forced to work in slave-like conditions as domestic servants in private homes, the United Nations' labor agency said Thursday. The International Labor Organization said in a new report that in parts of West Africa, Central America and Asia, thousands of girls as young as 8 work 15 or more hours a day, seven days a week, for little or no pay. The child workers -- who are employed in homes where having servants is a sign of social status -- are sometimes sexually abused. Some even forget their own names after being called simply "girl" or "boy" for years, the study found.

Officials say Cologne bomb not terrorism

COLOGNE, Germany -- A bomb attack in Cologne that injured 22 people likely was the work of criminals and not a terrorist group, Germany's top security official said Thursday. The Wednesday afternoon blast spewed broken glass and debris along a street in a Turkish immigrant neighborhood of family shops and residential buildings. "Indications are that it was not terrorists, but the criminal underworld," Interior Minister Otto Schily said.-- From wire reports

Rains leave floods, damage in Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Fifteen minutes after a floodgate opened, Karree Satterwhite watched a dozen trees float by her front porch. Then came water skis, a beaver and flopping fish. When the snakes arrived, she had had enough. Satterwhite, of Fort Worth, was among residents surveying damage Thursday as storms moved away from north Texas following days of widespread flooding, evacuations and hundreds of damaged homes.

Suspects in Chechen president's killing detained

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia -- Authorities have detained two suspects in last month's killing of Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov, a prosecutor said Thursday. Allies of the assassinated leader, meanwhile, chose their candidate to replace him in an election this summer.

Army withholding chemical-attack antidote

WASHINGTON -- Despite the interest of emergency officials, the government is refusing to provide U.S. communities an antidote controlled by the Army and stockpiled by other countries to treat victims of a chemical terror attack. The product, Reactive Skin Decontamination Lotion, was developed by the Canadian military years ago, won Food and Drug Administration approval in 2003 and is sold in other NATO countries for neutralizing sarin, mustard gas and other chemical agents.

Volcano erupts in northeastern Indonesia

TAHUNA, Indonesia -- A volcano on a tropical island in northeastern Indonesia exploded in a major eruption Thursday, hurling stones and spewing smoke. Warnings of more blasts kept thousands of villagers away from their homes on the mountainside. Vulcanologists have expected a big eruption of Mount Awu on Sangihe Island since last week, and the nearly 12,000 people living around the mountain had been evacuated to a nearby town. There were no reports of injuries in Thursday's blast.

Australian with al-Qaida links faces trial

WASHINGTON -- An Australian held at the Navy's prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will face a military tribunal for allegedly training and fighting alongside members of al-Qaida in Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced Thursday. The military charged David Hicks with conspiracy to commit war crimes, attempted murder and aiding the enemy, the Pentagon said in a news release. Hicks will plead innocent, his military attorney said.

Top general escapes assassination in Pakistan

KARACHI, Pakistan -- The top general in Pakistan's volatile southern city of Karachi narrowly escaped an assassination attempt Thursday as his motorcade came under a gun and bomb attack. At least nine people died, officials said. Gunmen waiting in ambush in buildings on opposite sides of a main road in the city center opened fire on a convoy escorting Lt. Gen. Ahsan Saleem Hayat, the Karachi corps commander.

-- From wire reports