World briefs 4/7/06

Pope Benedict XVI may visit Israel in early 2007

ROME -- Pope Benedict XVI is considering visiting Israel in the first part of 2007, former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres said Thursday after meeting the pontiff at the Vatican. "He indicated that he may do it in the first part of next year," Peres told a news conference after renewing an invitation first made by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last year. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls confirmed the invitation had been extended but gave no details on the pope's response. Peres said he did not think a dispute between the Vatican and Israel over taxation of church properties would stop a papal visit.

6th-century pyramid discovered in Mexico

MEXICO CITY -- Archeologists have discovered a massive sixth-century Indian pyramid beneath a centuries-old Catholic religious site. The pyramid was built on a hillside by the mysterious Teotihuacan culture and was abandoned almost 1,000 years before Christians began re-enacting the Crucifixion there. "When they first saw us digging there, the local people just couldn't believe there was a pyramid," said archaeologist Jesus Sanchez. "It was only when the slopes and shapes of the pyramid, the floors with altars were found, that they finally believed us." The people of Iztapalapa started re-enacting the Passion of Christ in 1833 and the yearly ritual draws as many as a million spectators. The 60-foot-tall pyramid was carved out on a natural hillside around 500 A.D., scientists said.

Boat capsizes off coast of Djibouti; at least 69 dead

NAIROBI, Kenya -- A boat ferrying passengers to a traditional festival overturned off the coast of Djibouti Thursday, killing at least 69 people, an official said. More people were feared missing or dead, said Ismael Tani, an adviser to Djiboutian President Ismail Umar Guelleh, said by telephone. "There were many dead," he said, adding that 69 was the provisional death toll. He said it overturned in the harbor after leaving port about noon and "was probably overloaded." Tani said officials believed more than 200 people were on board the vessel, which he said was headed for a traditional fair.

Guatemalan congressman gunned down in public

GUATEMALA CITY -- Gunmen on a motorcycle killed an opposition congressman as he stepped out of his party's headquarters Thursday, several blocks from where the president was launching a plan to put 2,400 ex-soldiers on the streets to back up police. President Oscar Berger lamented the death of Congressman Mario Pivaral, but said "we have to wait for the results of the investigation to find who is responsible." Pivaral was shot by two men riding by on a motorcycle just as left party offices to answer a cell phone call, Police Commissioner Edgar Orellana quoted witnesses as saying. This was not a robbery, the commissioner said. The killers had been lying in wait for him, fellow National Union Congressman Edgar Rodriguez said.

Dead swan found in Scotland had bird flu

LONDON -- Tests have confirmed a dead swan found in Scotland had the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, Britain's national farming union said Thursday. Britain's Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs contacted the union to confirm the result, said Peter Kendall, the union president. The wild swan was discovered last Wednesday at a harbor in Cellardyke, more than 450 miles north of London. British government officials have restricted the movement of poultry and are considering whether to expand a two-mile protection zone around the harbor. Kendall said the union was concerned the disease had reached Britain, but cautioned the public to stay calm.

-- From wire reports