Hamas, Egyptians work to gain control of border

Hamas, Egyptians work
to gain control of border

RAFAH, Egypt — Hamas militants joined Egyptian forces for a second day Monday in trying to restore control at three breaches in the Gaza border, building a chain-link fence to seal off one opening and directing traffic at two others.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have flooded into Egypt unchecked over the past six days since Hamas militants blasted holes in the border partition. They have been voraciously buying up food, fuel and other goods made scarce by Israeli and Egyptian closures of Gaza’s borders.

Hamas seized control of the Palestinian territory in June, but before the breach it had no role in policing the border with Egypt. Now the Islamic militant group is hoping that will change, and it is pressing for some kind of future role in border administration.

Roadside bomb kills
5 U.S. soldiers in Iraq

BAGHDAD — In a daring ambush, insurgents blasted a U.S. patrol with a roadside bomb Monday and showered survivors with gunfire from a mosque in increasingly lawless Mosul. Five American soldiers were killed in the explosion — even as Iraqi troops moved into the northern city to challenge al-Qaida in Iraq.

Iraqi reinforcements, along with helicopters, tanks and armored vehicles, converged on Mosul for what Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki pledged would be a decisive battle against al-Qaida in its last major urban stronghold.

The attack on the U.S. patrol — the deadliest on American forces since six soldiers perished Jan. 9 in a booby-trapped house north of Baghdad — raised the Pentagon’s January death count to at least 36.

The toll so far is 56 percent higher than December’s 23 U.S. military deaths and marks the first monthly increase since August. But the figures remain well below monthly death tolls of more than 100 last spring.

Man arrested outside
White House after threat

WASHINGTON — A man who made threats against President Bush and had a suspicious package was arrested Monday outside the north fence of the White House, the Secret Service said.

The package was later found not to be dangerous, Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said.

The man, who was “uttering threats against the president,” was taken into custody just before 2 p.m. on Pennsylvania Avenue, Donovan said.

Gunmen release students

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Gunmen held dozens of students and teachers hostage for five hours at a school in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, but authorities allowed the captors to flee without punishment to avoid bloodshed, a tribal negotiator said.

None of the hostages were hurt. But the standoff underscored the government’s fragile grip on Pakistan’s borderlands near Afghanistan, where crime is rife and security forces are struggling to contain rising Islamic militancy.

Kidnapping for ransom is common in Pakistan, particularly in the northwest, and police said the gunmen were criminals seeking profit, rather than militants.

The mounting violence has contributed to the growing unpopularity of President Pervez Musharraf, who was on his last stop Monday of a European tour. After talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Musharraf insisted his U.S.-backed policies to fight religious extremism were working.

“I think we are succeeding,” he told a news conference. He also played down the kidnapping.

Hundreds of thousands
stranded by blizzards

GUANGZHOU, China — Snow and ice storms have stranded hundreds of thousands of people — most of them migrant workers hoping to leave for the Chinese New Year — and more blizzards threatened Monday to wreck what for many is a rare chance to see family.

The government, scrambling Monday to prevent riots among the crowds that have swelled daily since the storms began Jan. 10, offered temporary shelter in schools and convention centers. Hundreds of police and soldiers were posted around the train station.

Frustrated in their efforts to return home, migrant travelers created small camps of suitcases in the mud outside the train station, scattering chicken bones and cigarette butts.

Li Moming, a construction worker among the 500,000 people stuck in the main southern city of Guangzhou, wore a mud-splattered pinstriped suit for a homecoming that might not happen.

Associated Press