World briefs 02/20/03

Former Mexican conjoined twin dies

GUADALAJARA, Mexico -- A baby girl who had shared a liver and heart tissue with her sister died two weeks after the pair were surgically separated, a hospital spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Seven-month-old Marisol Villalobos died of heart failure late Tuesday after struggling to recuperate from the operation, said Guadalupe Carrasco, spokeswoman at the Western Medical Center Pediatric Hospital in Guadalajara.

The baby's twin, Mariana Villalobos, was doing well and was expected to survive.

The two were separated by Mexican doctors on Feb. 4 during a five-hour surgery in Guadalajara. Born facing each other, they had been joined by two feet of excess skin and tissue that was connected near their abdomens.

The baby girls shared a liver and a pericardium, the watery sac that encloses the heart. But each infant had her own heart, and doctors said the liver tissue they cut to separate them was not vital to their survival.

However, Marisol began to suffer from liver and kidney failure.

Norway plans to deport Ansar al-Islam leader

OSLO, Norway -- The leader of a Kurdish Islamic guerrilla group operating in northern Iraq was ordered out of Norway on Wednesday for what immigration officials called "a threat to national security" due to alleged Al-Qaida links.

Mullah Krekar, leader of Ansar al-Islam, was given two weeks to leave Norway and three weeks to appeal the ruling.

At a Jan. 14 news conference in Oslo, Krekar denied he or his group had any links to terrorism or ever had any contact with al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Although Krekar's lawyer is lodging an appeal with Norway's Immigration Appeals Board, the action may only delay Krekar's deportation, since the Immigration Directorate's recommendations contributed to the deportation ruling.

Engine glitch forces plane to land in Canada

PARIS -- Engine trouble forced an Air France Concorde headed to New York to make an unscheduled landing Wednesday in Canada, the airline said.

The 47 passengers aboard Air France Flight 002 were transferred to other flights from Halifax, Nova Scotia, where the Concorde landed, the company said. Further details were not immediately available.

An Air France Concorde crashed shortly after takeoff from Paris in July 2000, killing 113 people and prompting authorities to ground the planes for more than a year.

An investigation concluded that the Concorde crashed after a tire was punctured by a stray metal strip on the runway, propelling pieces of rubber into the fuel tank and igniting a fire.

British Airways and Air France are the only airlines flying the Concorde.

Officials: Chlamydia strain likely cause of pneumonia

BEIJING -- An unusual strain of chlamydia -- one not transmitted through sexual contact -- probably caused an illness that killed at least five people, sickened hundreds more with pneumonia and spread fear in southern China, authorities said Wednesday.

But one official acknowledged that some experts disagreed with the diagnosis and said the conclusion may have been hastened by politics and public panic.

The chlamydia strain was found in two specimens taken from people who died, the official at the Guangdong Provincial Disease Control and Prevention Center said Wednesday. He would not give his name.

Chlamydia is most commonly known as a sexually transmitted disease. However, the official said, a related strain, pneumonia chlamydia, is typically spread through secretions from the respiratory tract. He added that the specimens were still being examined and analyzed.

-- From wire reports