World briefs 15A

Head of nuclear watchdog agency arrives in Libya

TRIPOLI, Libya -- The director of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency and a team of experts arrived in Libya on Saturday to follow up on Moammar Gadhafi's promise to dispose of his weapons of mass destruction. The Foreign Ministry said Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, met with Libyan officials, but no further details were available. Earlier Saturday, ElBaradei said his team was going in for up to three days to test Gadhafi's commitment to be "fully transparent, fully cooperative and go all the way" in dismantling enrichment facilities and other equipment that could be put to weapons use.

Nablus Palestinian killed as Israel pursues militants

NABLUS, West Bank -- Hundreds of Israeli soldiers searched for suspects Saturday in this city described as a hotbed of militant activity, fatally shooting a Palestinian during a clash with stone throwers, Palestinian witnesses and medical workers said. Also Saturday, several thousand Palestinians demonstrated in the West Bank town of Qalqiliya against a massive separation barrier that Israel is building in the West Bank. Meanwhile, about 250 people demonstrated Saturday night at Israel's defense ministry in Tel Aviv. Protesters criticized the separation barrier and the shooting of an Israeli who joined a demonstration on Friday near Qalqiliya.

U.N. peacekeepers among Benin plane crash victims

COTONOU, Benin -- Fifteen army officers from Bangladesh returning from U.N. peacekeeping duty in West Africa were among at least 138 people killed when a jet clipped a building and crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff on Christmas Day, officials said Saturday. The announcement came as authorities in Benin recovered more bodies from the plane, which had 161 people on board the flight bound for Beirut, Lebanon. More than 20 people survived the crash and Saturday's death toll reached 138. There still was no word on what caused Thursday's crash, but Lebanese Foreign Minister Jean Obeid said in Beirut after a day trip to Benin that the aircraft may have been overloaded.

Report: Fire in Chinese coal mine kills 26

BEIJING -- A fire raced through a coal mine in northern China, killing 26 miners, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Saturday. It was a new blow to China's accident-plagued industrial complex, days after a massive gas leak killed 191 people in China's southwest. Thousands of people are killed every year in coal mine explosions and other disasters. The fire broke out at about 8 a.m. on Friday in the mine in Wu'an, a city in Hebei province, Xinhua said. Investigators found that cables in the mine caught fire, igniting a larger blaze, Xinhua said. Thirty-six miners were in the mine, but 10 escaped, the report said. It said rescue workers found 26 bodies. China's coal mines are the world's deadliest, with more than 4,200 deaths reported this year in fires, cave-ins and other accidents.

Liberian rebels block peacekeepers' deployment

MONROVIA, Liberia -- The United Nations warned a Liberian rebel group to allow peacekeepers into a city north of the capital and ease demands for more posts in a new government. On Thursday, Liberians United for Reconciliation rebels stopped Pakistani peacekeepers from deploying in Tubmanburg, 20 miles north of Monrovia. They want senior posts in key government departments, including police, immigration and port management. A U.N. statement released Friday quoted the deputy U.N. representative in Liberia, Abou Moussa, as saying the deployment in Tubmanburg "was not up for negotiation."-- From wire reports

Tank rams public minibus in Indonesia, 18 killed

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- An Indonesian army tank accidentally ran over a public minibus on Java island on Saturday, killing 18 people and injuring at least five, authorities said. The tank was returning from military exercises along a narrow, winding road near the town of Magelang when the driver lost control, rammed the minibus and rolled over it, said police Lt. Heru Widodo. Two of the 18 people killed were soldiers in the tank. The rest were passengers on the bus, said Widodo.