World Watch

SOUTH ASIA
New Tensions on the Line of Control
Pakistan began pulling back troops from its border with Afghanistan as President Pervez Musharraf warned that they would be deployed along the Indian frontier if tensions over Kashmir are not defused. Such a move would be largely symbolic, since Pakistan and India already have about a million soldiers along their border. Echoing — and perhaps assuaging — India's feelings, President George W. Bush demanded that Pakistan crack down on Islamic militants slipping across the Line of Control dividing Kashmir. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is to visit the region this week in an effort to ease the crisis, but Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes said there was little hope for a swift resolution. Meanwhile, the U.S., Britain and other countries told their nationals to leave India, adding to similar advice on Pakistan.

MARS
A Martian Odyssey, And a Sea of Ice
Where did all the water on Mars go when the once warm and wet planet became cold and dry? After studying data from the orbiting Odyssey spacecraft, U.S. scientists believe it's still there, lying just below the surface as a huge sea of ice that future astronauts can tap for drinking water and as a source of hydrogen for fuel. Before human explorers head for Mars, much more study needs to be done by rovers and drill-equipped landers. Still, the scientists say, they're optimistic that the "ice signature" detected by Odyssey's instruments is just the tip of a Martian iceberg.

EUROPEAN UNION
Save Our Soles
The E.U. considered a proposal to cut its fishing fleet drastically in an effort to protect fast-declining fish stocks. Some countries' fleets could be reduced by up to 60% over four years, mainly in northern European countries. But Spain, which has the biggest European fleet — 20,000 vessels — and receives the largest part of the annual $555 million E.U. fishing subsidy, cried foul, saying it had already halved its flotilla since joining the community in 1986. The World Wildlife Fund criticized the proposal, saying it did not go far enough.

MIDDLE EAST
Israeli Tanks Roll Into Nablus — Again
As CIA Director George Tenet left Washington for the Middle East to discuss the prospects for renewed Israeli-Palestinian security cooperation, Israeli forces moved back into Nablus and Qalqilya. Among those arrested in the West Bank raids was Issam Abu Bakr, a senior official of Yasser Arafat's Fatah organization in Nablus. Troops went from house to house in the Balata refugee camp, a main base of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, responsible for a recent suicide bombing near Tel Aviv in which two Israelis were killed.

ITALY
Mamma Mafia
Two carloads of gangsters sped through the southern town of Lauro di Nola, exchanging gunfire and terrifying passers by. When the cars stopped, members of two organized-crime families jumped out and started a gunfight that left three dead and five injured. What was really remarkable was that all the shooters were women, members of the Cava and Graziano families that have spent 30 years battling for control of local extortion and drug trafficking rackets.

ALGERIA
Tainted Victory
The campaign to elect Algeria's new lower house of parliament was marred at one extreme by a boycott and at the other by lethal violence. The National Liberation Front won an outright majority with 199 of 389 seats after four opposition parties took no part in the vote. On the eve of the election, militant youths rioted in Tizi Ouzou, the main town of the Berber Kabylie region, where political leaders had called on voters to boycott the election. The same day militant Islamic rebels killed 25 people in Sendjas, a village in Chlef province.

LIBYA
Possible Offer
Libyan government officials denied reports that they were offering $2.7 billion in compensation to families of victims of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 killing 270 people. A New York law firm claimed the money would be offered in exchange for lifting sanctions and for the removal of Libya from the U.S. list of states sponsoring terrorism. Libya has consistently denied involvement in the bombing, even after Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, a former member of the Libyan security organization, was found guilty in 2001.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
Killing Fields
Aid workers in Kisangani reported that Rwandan-backed rebels in eastern Congo have carried out mass executions in revenge for an uprising two weeks before. The bodies of at least 170 people have been found in mass graves. The rebels accused of the killings, the Congolese Rally for Democracy, deny the allegations, saying that only 39 people died after mutineers staged an uprising and that a few civilians were caught in crossfire.

ZAMBIA
Desperate Situation
President Levy Mwanawasa appealed to the international community for help. With Zambia's current food crop capable of feeding less than two thirds of the population, he estimates that the country will run out of food by August. The U.N. warned that across southern Africa around 10 million people face starvation unless aid arrives soon and four million tons of food will be needed over the next year.

NEPAL
Lethal Fighting
A week after Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was forced to call early elections, King Gyanendra imposed another three months' state of emergency and the army fought battles with Maoist insurgents. More than 160 rebels were killed when they attacked an army base in the Rukum district west of Katmandu. Further clashes with the rebels, who have been fighting since 1996 to overthrow the constitutional monarchy, left 10 more dead.

THE PHILIPPINES
Bounty Bid
More than a year after Abu Sayyaf rebels took three Americans hostage, the U.S. government offered a reward of up to $5 million for the capture of the Muslim extremist group's leaders. Weeks after the rebel organization grabbed the hostages from a holiday resort on the southern Palawan island, they beheaded one of the captives, Guillermo Sobero. They are still holding missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham. One Abu Sayyaf leader, Abu Sabaya, responded that the bounty gave the group more stature.

THE U.S.
Condemnation
According to a report by Amnesty International, America's war on terror is threatening basic human rights to such an extent that in some categories the country is on a par with Cuba. The report cites the indefinite imprisonment of 300 men captured in Afghanistan at Camp X-Ray as an example of violation of human rights and condemned the detention without recourse to the normal legal process of more than 1,100 foreign nationals since Sept. 11.

COLOMBIA
Time to Talk
Having won the election outright in the first round, President-elect Alvaro Uribe pledged to commit men and money to a crackdown on the drug trade. Uribe won 53% of the vote and promised to halt the activities of left-wing rebels and right-wing paramilitaries, who use money from drug trafficking to finance fighting that kills thousands each year. He also sent a request to the U.N. to mediate an end to the 38-year insurgency.