SWITZERLAND
Barricades protect city from G-8 protesters
GENEVA -- Geneva's big-name banks and sleek stores,
its swanky restaurants and luxury hotels, disappeared
behind yellow wood boards Friday for G-8 protests that
police fear will turn violent.
The G-8 summit opens Sunday in Evian, France, but
security there will be extremely tight. As a result, up
to 300,000 protesters will gather across the border in
Switzerland for demonstrations in Geneva.
All the leaders of the G-8 -- the world's seven most
industrialized nations plus Russia -- will arrive for
the summit at Geneva airport, and protesters want to
block the route to Evian.
MEXICO
Discovery of body fuels fears murders spreading
CHIHUAHUA-- The discovery of a young woman's body has
created fears that a wave of murders in the border city
of Ciudad Juarez, 100 miles to the north, has begun to
spread.
Police in this state capital on Friday confirmed that
parents had identified the body of 16-year-old Viviana
Rayas Arellano.
The skeletal remains of the girl, who had disappeared
March 16 while returning from school, were discovered
along a roadside south of Chihuahua earlier this week.
SOUTH KOREA
U.S. officials promote talks with North Korea
SEOUL-- Six U.S. lawmakers hoping to ease tensions
with North Korea arrived in Pyongyang on Friday,
becoming the first American officials to visit since a
standoff began over the secretive communist nation's
nuclear program.
North Korea's official news agency, KCNA, said the
U.S. delegation, led by Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., had
arrived and were to discuss "important issues" with
senior officials.
Before leaving Washington, Weldon said he would tell
North Korean officials that economic aid and trade lie
ahead if Pyongyang abandons its nuclear program and
improves relations with the United States. Weldon is the
second-highest ranking member of the House Armed
Services Committee.
SPAIN
Two policemen killed in car bomb explosion
MADRID-- A car bomb allegedly placed by Basque
separatists exploded in northern Spain on Friday,
killing two police officers and prompting the prime
minister to cancel plans to attend a summit in Russia.
A third police officer was severely wounded and five
civilians were wounded in the early afternoon attack
that shattered windows and set cars ablaze in the town
of Sanguesa in Navarra province.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but
Deputy Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said the bomb was
set by ETA, a group that often uses car bombs in its
campaign for a Basque homeland in northern Spain and
southwest France.
CUBA
Cardinal defends church from critics
HAVANA -- Cuba's Roman Catholic cardinal defended the
church's role on the communist-run island, rejecting
criticism that it was not doing enough to support the
political opposition.
Cardinal Jaime Ortega also called for reconciliation
among Cuban Catholics during a Thursday night conference
attended by hundreds of people. The audience included
U.S. Interests Section Chief James Cason and other
foreign diplomats, opposition members and well-known
cultural figures with ties to Fidel Castro's government.
Ortega's comments came a week after Czech Bishop
Vaclav Maly criticized the church in Cuba for not
supporting the opposition
movement.
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