World briefs 6/29/05

Teen's mother distraught as Aruba suspect freed

ORANJESTAD, Aruba -- Natalee Holloway's mother said Tuesday she was devastated by the release of an Aruba judicial official in the case of her missing daughter because she was convinced he was hiding information. Aruban police released Paul van der Sloot on Sunday after a judge ruled there was insufficient cause to continue holding him. He was arrested Thursday. Van der Sloot's 17-year-old son, Joran, is one of three young men still in custody.

Process to beatify John Paul II officially opens

ROME -- The Roman Catholic Church placed Pope John Paul II on the path to sainthood Tuesday during a joyous ceremony -- the fastest start to a beatification process in memory. Pope Benedict XVI announced May 13 that he was waiving the five-year waiting period and allowing the church's saint-making process to begin immediately for the Polish-born John Paul, who died April 2 after nearly 27 years guiding the church. It was only the second time in recent history that such a waiver had been granted: John Paul placed Mother Teresa on the fast-track for sainthood in 1998. In placing John Paul on a fast track, Benedict was responding to the outpouring of calls for him to be canonized.

U.S. military helicopter crashes in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A U.S. CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter, which a military official said may have been carrying 15 to 20 people, crashed Tuesday while ferrying reinforcements to fight insurgents in a mountainous region in eastern Afghanistan. The Taliban claimed to have shot down the aircraft. The fate of those on board the helicopter, which crashed near Asadabad in Kunar province, was not immediately known, the U.S. military said.

A statement said the cause of the crash was unclear.

Other helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft were sent to the crash site, the military said. Other details were not available, according to U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara.

Provincial Gov. Asadullah Wafa told The Associated Press that the Taliban downed the aircraft with a rocket. He gave no other details.

Purported Taliban spokesman Mullah Latif Hakimi telephoned the AP before news of the crash was released and said the rebels shot the helicopter down.

Hakimi often calls news organizations to claim responsibility for attacks on behalf of the Taliban. His information has sometimes proven untrue or exaggerated, and his exact tie to the group's leadership is unclear.

The crash was the second of a Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan this year. On April 6, 15 U.S. service members and three American civilians were killed when their chopper went down in a sandstorm while returning to the main U.S. base at Bagram.

The U.S. military has launched operations in several areas along the border with Pakistan. Those offensives target remnants of al-Qaida and the hard-line Taliban movement, as well as foreign fighters using high mountain passes to cross the largely uncontrolled border from Pakistan.

Tuesday's crash comes after three months of unprecedented fighting that has killed about 465 suspected insurgents, 29 U.S. troops, 43 Afghan police and soldiers, and 125 civilians.

The violence has left much of Afghanistan off-limits to aid workers and has reinforced concerns that the war here is escalating into a conflict on the scale of that in Iraq.

Afghan and U.S. officials have predicted that the situation will deteriorate in the lead-up to legislative elections in September -- the next key step toward democracy after a quarter-century of war.