Agreement welcomed

Agreement welcomed ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Relief workers and earthquake survivors hailed an agreement Sunday between India and Pakistan to open their disputed frontier in embattled Kashmir as a breakthrough that will speed assistance to quake victims. More ominously, a militant fighter in Pakistan's portion of Kashmir also welcomed the opening, saying that it would make it easier for insurgents to reach targets in India. Rashid Khalikov, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in the quake-shattered city of Muzaffarabad, called the Pakistan-India accord reached earlier Sunday "a good step in this disastrous condition." "It will open an opportunity to extend humanitarian help to the affected people in the far-flung villages alongside the Line of Control," Khalikov said, referring to the heavily militarized cease-fire line that divides the Pakistani- and Indian-held portions of the Himalayan territory. The United Nations, along with other relief groups, has been scrambling to get supplies to the estimated 3.3 million left homeless by the Oct. 8 quake in the remaining weeks before winter sets in. Killings endanger accord GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Israel and the Palestinians agreed Sunday to halt their latest round of rocket attacks and airstrikes, official said, but the deal threatened to fall through even before it was officially announced when Israeli forces killed three Palestinian militants in the West Bank. Israeli forces encircled a house in the West Bank town of Qabatiyeh after sundown Sunday and killed two militants, including Jihad Zakarne, an Islamic Jihad member accused by Israel of planning a deadly suicide bombing last week, witnesses and Palestinian security officials said. Israel Radio reported Israeli troops killed a third Palestinian who was planting a bomb nearby. The Israeli military had no comment. Islamic Jihad responded with a statement threatening to hit Israeli towns near Gaza and called on "Palestinian factions to be united to confront the Zionist campaign against the Islamic Jihad and the Palestinian people in the West Bank." Death toll reaches 111 VELIGONDA, India -- Naval boats searched for dead bodies Sunday as rescuers gave up on finding more survivors from a train that plunged into a rain-swollen river in southern India, killing at least 111 people, officials said. The accident occurred early Saturday in the town of Veligonda in Andhra Pradesh state after flash floods washed away a portion of the track. By Sunday afternoon, rescuers had pulled out all survivors and bodies trapped in seven cars that derailed along with the train's engine, said J. P. Batra, chairman of the railway board. Rescuers on naval boats searched for bodies that were washed away from the scene, said K. Jana Reddy, the home minister of Andhra Pradesh states. He ruled out any new survivors. At least 11 bodies were found downstream overnight, raising the death toll to 111. Boy to be star of parade NEW YORK -- The leader of New York's annual Halloween parade will not be a drag queen on roller skates. It will not be a giant caricature of President Bush. It will not be a naked man covered in glitter. The star will be a little trumpeter from New Orleans -- 10-year-old Glenn Hall III, whose house and horn were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. In New York, he got a new trumpet that he will play today in what is billed as the country's biggest public Halloween event. Glenn's role as grand marshal is part of a New Orleans theme at today's parade, which takes place in New York's Greenwich Village. The parade's symbol -- as it was in 2001 after Sept. 11 -- is a phoenix rising from its ashes. The phoenix will rise from a traditional New Orleans jazz funeral, with displaced Katrina survivors dancing behind a coffin in both grief and joie de vivre. "The dancing is to raise the spirits, to bring them back. And the music is a cry for the people who died," said New Orleans rapper Allen Porche, 22, who will be dancing in the parade. On his right arm, he has a tattoo that reads "Ninth Ward" -- the neighborhood where his family's home was submerged under 27 feet of water. Halloween disturbance MADISON, Wis. -- A weekend of Halloween celebrations popular with college students resulted in more than 400 arrests, and police used bursts of pepper spray early Sunday to break up crowds of revelers. Mayor Dave Cieslewicz suggested canceling the annual gathering. The downtown party near the University of Wisconsin-Madison attracts college students from across the Midwest, and has turned chaotic in the past. Last year, 455 were arrested. Police used officers on horseback early Sunday to move chanting and beverage-tossing revelers off State Street, a mile-long stretch of bars, restaurants and shops. The pepper spray was used after cups filled with beverages and ice were thrown at officers. Most arrests were for alcohol-related offenses, including underage drinking, said Lt. Pat Malloy. Associated Press Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.