World briefs

Abuse charges reduced for U.S. soldier

MANNHEIM, Germany -- A U.S. military policewoman accused in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal had the charges against her reduced Wednesday as a set of pretrial hearings wrapped up at an American base in Germany. The decision by military prosecutors could significantly reduce jail time for Spc. Megan Ambuhl -- one of seven Army reservists charged with abuse of Iraqi prisoners -- if she is found guilty.

Thatcher's son charged in alleged coup plot

CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- The son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, an ex-race car driver whose business career has been dogged by accusations of questionable arms deals and shady ventures, was charged Wednesday with helping finance a foiled coup plot in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. Mark Thatcher, 51, was arrested at his Cape Town home and taken before Wynberg Magistrate's Court to be charged with violating the country's Foreign Military Assistance Act.

320,000 evacuated as typhoon hits China

BEIJING -- China evacuated 320,000 people from the east coast as Typhoon Aere hit the mainland Wednesday, after a mudslide buried a family of four in northern Taiwan pushing the regional death toll to 16. Aere came ashore at 4:30 p.m. in Fujian province, south of Shanghai, state television reported, showing footage of howling winds and driving rain. Cars plowed through flooded streets littered with uprooted metal barriers. No injuries or deaths were reported on the mainland.

Revelers wage tomato war in Bunol, Spain

MADRID, Spain -- Knee-deep in red mush, tens of thousands of revelers pelted each other with tons of ripe tomatoes Wednesday in Spain's messiest summer party. Police in the eastern village of Bunol -- population 10,000 -- said some 36,000 people waged the hour-long food fight, bathing themselves, the walls and streets with 140 tons of fruit projectiles.

Arafat resists reforms; chaos plagues West Bank

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Yasser Arafat fended off another challenge to his authority Wednesday when Palestinian lawmakers backed away from sweeping reform demands, instead approving a watered down set of recommendations. A wave of chaos plaguing the Palestinian territories, meanwhile, took another victim when gunmen in Gaza seriously wounded a senior intelligence official.-- From wire reports

Zimbabwe opposition announces election boycottHARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change said Wednesday that it would boycott future elections until the government reforms election laws, ends what the movement calls state-sponsored political violence and repeals what it terms repressive media and security laws. The decision by the party's national executive committee comes in advance of parliamentary elections in March.

-- From wire reports