World briefs 1/6/06

Rescuers recover 15th victim from German rink

BAD REICHENHALL, Germany -- Rescue workers early Thursday recovered the body of the last person known to be missing in the wreckage of a collapsed ice rink, raising the number killed to 15. Fire official Rudi Zeif said the body was that of a 40-year-old woman unaccounted for since the rink's roof collapsed Monday during a public skating session. Rescue teams with search dogs and heavy equipment worked into the night to remove debris from the surface of the ice rink in the effort to find the woman. Officials said the search would go on, just in case anyone else still lay buried, but indicated that the focus would now switch to investigating the cause of the tragedy in Bad Reichenhall. In all, 12 minors and three adults died.

Pakistan says nuclear network dismantled

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan said Thursday it had taken all "appropriate action" to break up the underground nuclear network run by its former chief nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri made the remarks one day after a British newspaper alleged Khan's network may still be in operation. The Guardian report cited an unidentified European Union source. "Pakistan is very sorry and is very upset and has taken all appropriate action in dismantling the underground network," Kasuri said. "Dr. A.Q. Khan has fallen from the high pedestal that he had," he said, adding that Khan had already been "treated very harshly." Khan, the founding father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, acknowledged in February 2004 that he gave sensitive nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya. President Bush has labeled North Korea and Iran part of an "axis of evil" and analysts say both countries pose a potential nuclear threat.

Mt. Kilimanjaro rockslide kills three Americans

MOUNT KILIMANJARO NATIONAL PARK, Tanzania -- The climbers were asleep in their tents, hoping to get a few hours rest before a pre-dawn ascent of Africa's highest peak, when the boulders rained down. Three Americans were killed and two others seriously injured. The Americans were among several dozen foreign climbers from various tour groups camped near Arrow glacier on Kilimanjaro's difficult Western Breach when the rock slide occurred Wednesday. The dead were identified as Kristian Ferguson, 27, of Longmont, Colo.; Mary Lou Sammis, 58, of Huntington, N.Y., and Betty Orrik Sapp, 63, of Tennessee. Ferguson had been hiking with his wife and others from the Colorado Mountain Club, friends and club officials said.

Bomber strikes during visit by U.S. ambassador

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- A suicide attacker detonated explosives strapped to his body during a visit by the U.S. ambassador Thursday, killing 10 Afghans and wounding 50, Afghan officials said. Ambassador Ronald E. Neumann and other American officials were unhurt, U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said. A purported Taliban spokesman said the Americans were targeted. The attack occurred about a quarter-mile from the governor's house in the central Afghan town of Tirin Kot in Uruzgan province, said Abdullah Khan, the governor's spokesman. The Americans were inside the building at the time. Ten Afghans standing outside were killed, said the deputy provincial governor, Abdul Aziz. Fifty others were wounded, including Uruzgan's deputy police chief, he said. Fifteen people were in critical condition. "The ambassador and his party are safe and have been accounted for. They were not in any danger," Fintor said.

-- From wire reports