World briefs 03/17/03

Amazon wildfires continue to spread

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Nearly 700 wildfires fueled by dry conditions and high winds burned out of control in Brazil's Amazon jungle Sunday despite stepped-up efforts to battle the blazes.

The number of fires burning across the state of Roraima, which borders Venezuela and Guyana, more than doubled to 686 on Sunday, according to satellite monitoring by Brazil's environmental protection agency Ibama.

"Our fight against the fires is intensifying each day, but it's very dry and very windy up here," Ibama spokeswoman Monica Gil told The Associated Press from Roraima.

Ibama said it could not give an accurate estimate of the damaged or destroyed areas until the fires are extinguished. But early last week, when only 86 fires were recorded, 25,600 acres of forest and scrub land had burned.

The fires were sparked by farmers clearing agricultural land, and quickly got out of control because of extremely dry conditions caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon, an unusual warming of parts of the equatorial Pacific Ocean.

Six Russian servicemen killed in Chechnya

VLADIKAVKAZ, Russia -- Six Russian servicemen were killed by rebel gunfire or mines and attackers destroyed two polling stations before a vote on a new Chechen constitution, officials said Sunday.

The March 23 constitutional referendum has been promoted heavily by the Kremlin and is billed as a step toward restoring order in the war-ravaged republic.

Moscow contends that Chechnya's rebels are losing power, but the latest attacks demonstrated just how dangerous Chechnya still is.

Three soldiers were killed and 10 others wounded in the past day in attacks on Russian positions, and three others died when their jeep hit a mine, an official in the Moscow-backed Chechen administration said Sunday on condition of anonymity.

Mexican president set to leave hospital today

MEXICO CITY -- Mexican President Vicente Fox, who is recovering from back surgery, will not be released from the hospital until today, the president's office said.

Fox was expected to go home Sunday, but his office said the president would remain hospitalized another day because he was undergoing physical therapy to rehabilitate his back.

Doctors said Fox, who underwent surgery Wednesday for a herniated disc, is recovering well.

Fox spent Sunday consulting with his foreign relations minister after President Bush gave the United Nations a deadline of today to endorse the use of force to compel Iraq's immediate disarmament.

Bush announced the ultimatum after meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar at an Atlantic Ocean summit in the Azores Islands.

Fox is expected to hold formal Cabinet meetings after leaving the hospital this afternoon.

The president, whose country is one of 15 Security Council members, has called for the disarmament of Saddam Hussein, but stopped short of endorsing war.

-- From wire reports