World briefs 12B

Venezuela's political crisis deepens

CARACAS, Venezuela -- President Hugo Chavez moved to take control of the Caracas police force Saturday, but opponents of the leftist leader rejected the maneuver as a threat to talks on resolving the country's deepening and violent political crisis.

Further complicating the situation, the man appointed by the government to take control of the police said he wouldn't take the post.

Chavez's Deputy Citizen Security Minister Alcides Rondon said the government was taking "exceptional and provisional" command of the 9,000-strong police force to end a 1 1/2-month dispute between officers.

The move only heightened political tensions in Venezuela. Chavez's opponents say he must step down, and both sides have repeatedly held mass protests in the capital.

Russian officer killed; Chechen official abducted

VLADIKAVKAZ, Russia -- A high-ranking Russian officer was killed and a top Chechen official abducted at gunpoint in new fighting in the southern Russian republic, an official said Saturday.

Unidentified attackers opened fire on a vehicle carrying Lt. Gen. Igor Shifrin, the head of Russian military construction, in the Chechen capital Grozny on Friday night. Shifrin was killed and his driver was wounded, said an official.

In a separate incident, a group of masked gunmen stopped a car carrying Chechen transport minister Said Ali Ediyev and two of his aides.

The gunmen tied up Ediyev and the other passengers, threw hoods over their heads, and sped off. After a short distance, the minister and one of his aides were thrown out of the car, while the other aide was taken away, the official said.

Ibero summit confronts poverty, debt issues

BAVARO, Dominican Republic -- Leaders of Spain, Portugal and their former colonies in the Americas agreed Saturday to a plan for confronting the poverty, debt, and unemployment that have plagued them for years.

Leaders from 21 countries spent much of the final day of the Ibero-American summit behind closed doors.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said he thought the next summit could be more focused on pressing political and economic problems.

Oil slick reaches Spanish coast

MADRID, Spain -- Small portions of an oil slick reached the coast of northwest Spain on Saturday after a heavily loaded oil tanker ruptured several days ago in a storm.

The Bahamian-registered Prestige, with most of its 85,000-ton cargo, remained tenuously secured to tugboats about 104 miles into the Atlantic Ocean -- in rough weather, unable to proceed under its own power, and with a 50-foot crack in its hull below the waterline.

The tanker sprang a leak Wednesday during a storm. The vessel is considered to be vulnerable because its hull has no outer casing to provide extra protection against leakage.

Israeli troops seize West Bank city

HEBRON, West Bank -- Israeli soldiers retook this divided city Saturday, imposed a curfew and herded dozens of blindfolded Palestinians into buses. It was a first response to a Palestinian ambush that killed 12 members of the security forces lured into a dead-end alley.

Israel's retaliation was expected to focus on Hebron itself, with troops staying to crush militias. An adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said there was no plan to expel Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, as several Cabinet members demanded.

Friday night's ambush by the Islamic Jihad group heightened tensions in Hebron, home to 130,000 Palestinians and 450 Jewish settlers.-- From wire reports

Friday night's ambush by the Islamic Jihad group heightened tensions in Hebron, home to 130,000 Palestinians and 450 Jewish settlers. About 1,000 settlers attended a rally after the end of the Sabbath, some chanting "revenge" and "death to the Arabs." Army commanders urged settler leaders to prevent vigilante action.

North Korea threatens to end missile moratorium

SEOUL, South Korea-- North Korea on Saturday repeated its threat to resume missile test-launches if Japan doesn't atone for abuses committed during its colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

Since 1999, North Korea has been under a self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile test flights. At its first summit with Japan on Sept. 17, North Korea said it would extend the moratorium until after 2003.

The North's state-run Korean Central News Agency said Saturday that the communist state has no reason to stick to that promise because Japan is not honoring its summit agreements.

The North Korean people and military "strongly assert that it is necessary to reconsider a moratorium on the missile test-fire," said a Foreign Ministry spokesman, who was not identified by name.

North Korea made a similar threat earlier this month.

After the September summit, North Korea allowed five Japanese kidnapped to North Korea in the 1970s and 80s to return to their homeland Oct. 15 for what was expected to be a two-week visit. The visit has stretched into a month, straining relations between the countries.

Turkish president asks Abdullah Gul to form new government

ANKARA, Turkey -- A moderate pro-Western politician from an Islamic-rooted party was named Turkey's new prime minister Saturday, in what will likely be a caretaker role until the true power behind the government can take office.

Abdullah Gul will lead the new government, but party chief Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- currently banned from government because of a conviction for inciting religious hatred -- demonstrated his behind-the-scenes powers, outlining the administration's ambitious agenda to fight corruption, boost the ailing economy and improve human rights.

Erdogan is the undisputed leader of the Justice and Development Party that swept Nov. 3 elections, and is expected to dominate a new government until legislators can change the constitution to allow him to take over.

Gul hinted strongly Saturday that he would step down if Erdogan becomes eligible to lead -- a change that could take several months.