Palestinian premier says he'll travel to Washington

JERUSALEM -- The Palestinian Authority is seeking to persuade militants to extend indefinitely a temporary halt to attacks on Israelis, a Palestinian official said Wednesday.

The effort comes as the Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas announced he would travel to Washington this month to meet with President Bush. Israel also celebrated a commando raid that rescued a taxi driver who had been kidnapped and held for days in a West Bank pit.

Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Amr said he was working to extend the June 29 cease-fire, and urged Israel to strengthen the truce by releasing more prisoners, dismantling settler outposts and softening its demands for the rapid disarming of militant groups.

The Islamic Jihad and Hamas groups declared a three-month moratorium on attacks, while the Fatah movement headed by Yasser Arafat declared a six-month truce.

Three killed in military helicopter crash in Sicily

ROME -- A U.S. Navy helicopter caught fire shortly after leaving a Sicilian base and crashed in the countryside Wednesday, killing three crew members and leaving the fourth missing a feared dead, U.S. and Italian officials said.

The MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopter crashed Wednesday evening about 10 miles southwest of the Navy base at Sigonella on the eastern side of the island of Sicily, U.S. Defense Department spokesman Lt. Dan Hetlage said in Washington.

The helicopter crashed a short time after takeoff, said officials at national fire department headquarters in Rome.

The helicopter was engulfed in flames sparked by the crash and the fire was put out by crews from the U.S. base, Italian firefighters said.

A spokesman at the base in Sigonella said rescuers recovered three bodies but failed to find the fourth crewman.

U.S. proposal excludes Taylor, rebels in Liberia

ACCRA, Ghana -- An American-backed proposal at talks aimed at ending the fighting in Liberia would set up an interim government in August without Charles Taylor or the two leaders of the rebel groups seeking to oust him, negotiators said Wednesday.

President Bush, who is considering a deployment of American troops to war-torn Liberia, said such a move would depend on Taylor leaving the country.

The draft plan calls for the interim government to be inaugurated by Aug. 2 and for new elections to be held by October 2004. Elections would be open to all parties.

Renegade troops seize power in island nation

SAO TOME, Sao Tome and Principe -- Troops deposed the government in this island nation off West Africa on Wednesday, a revolt that could change control of the impoverished country's new oil wealth.

The rebellious soldiers said they would install a military junta to govern Sao Tome and Principe, one of Africa's smallest and poorest countries.

The uprising renewed concern over political stability in the Gulf of Guinea at a time when the West African region grows in importance as an alternative to the Middle East as a source of oil.

Sao Tome, a former Portuguese colony of about 140,000 people, has courted the United States in recent years in the hope of aid and support for offshore oil exploration.

-- From wire reports