World briefs 4/19/04

Spanish premier orders troops home from Iraq

MADRID, Spain -- The prime minister ordered Spanish troops pulled out of Iraq as soon as possible Sunday, fulfilling a campaign pledge to a nation still recovering from terrorist bombings that al-Qaida militants said were reprisal for Spain's support of the war. The new Socialist prime minister issued the abrupt recall just hours after his government was sworn in, saying there was no sign the United States would meet his demands for staying in Iraq -- which include United Nations control of the postwar occupation.

Bus of Americans flips outside Paris, killing one

PARIS -- A bus carrying American teenage soccer players overturned in a ditch east of Paris on Sunday, killing one and seriously injuring three others, officials said. The roads were wet from overnight rain, but authorities in the Seine-et-Marne region said it was not immediately clear why the tour bus, carrying about 34 people -- including two drivers -- overturned near Mitry-Mory, east of Paris. French officials said excessive speed may have been a factor. School officials identified the boy killed as Matt Helms, 13. Three young teens were seriously injured, eight other people were lightly injured, and many others were treated for shock.

Authorities look for motive in recent Kosovo attack

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro -- Investigators searched for evidence and interviewed eyewitnesses Sunday in an attempt to find out why a Jordanian U.N. police officer opened fire on U.S. correctional officers in Kosovo, killing two. The Jordanian officer was also killed in the shootout Saturday at the U.N.-run prison in the northern town of Kosovska Mitrovica.

Soyuz shuttle ready for liftoff this morning

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan -- As a child, Michael Fincke donned cardboard wings and made his siblings play Star Trek. Now the Pittsburgh native trades cardboard cutouts for a Soyuz spacecraft and a giant Russian rocket as he heads for the international space station with Russian and Dutch crewmates. Controllers gave final approval Sunday for this morning's blastoff, the third manned mission to the station since the halt of the U.S. shuttle program after the Columbia disaster in February 2003.

Sudan clashes force 50,000 from their homes

NAIROBI, Kenya -- At least 50,000 people have fled their homes in recent weeks because of militia attacks and fighting between Sudanese government and rebel forces in southern Sudan, the United Nations said Sunday. The clashes between the government forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Army rebels occurred despite a cease-fire between the warring parties, which are involved in talks to end the country's 21-year civil war.

Remains believed to be American MIAs go home

HANOI, Vietnam -- Five sets of remains believed to be those of American soldiers who went missing during the Vietnam War were sent home Sunday nearly 30 years after the war ended. The remains were loaded onto a C-17 transport plane in central Danang, from where they were to be flown to an Army laboratory in Honolulu for identification.

Terrorists plotted chemical, gas attacks in Jordan

AMMAN, Jordan -- An al-Qaida-linked terrorist cell recently dismantled in Jordan was plotting to detonate a chemical bomb capable of killing thousands of people and to attack the U.S. Embassy and prime minister's office with poison gas, officials said Saturday. Several terror suspects arrested in Jordan last month have confessed the plots were hatched by Jordanian militant Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, thought to be a close associate of al-Qaida boss Osama bin Laden. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the terrorist cell was planning to attack Jordan's secret service -- the General Intelligence Department -- with a chemical bomb that would have killed as many as 20,000 people and caused large-scale destruction within a half-mile radius.

-- From wire reports