World Scene

AFGHANISTAN

NATO forces, police fail to reach wreck

CHENARI — Thick cloud cover and deep snow kept NATO helicopters, police and even a seasoned local hunter from reaching the wreckage of an Afghan commercial airliner yesterday, three days after it hit a mountain, killing all 104 persons on board.

Two of the passengers were identified as employees of an American engineering firm rebuilding a key Afghan highway, and a third was an Afghan general.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul said there was no hope for the 96 passengers and eight crew members on board the Kam Air Boeing 737-200, which was found Saturday about 20 miles east of Kabul.

VENEZUELA

Anti-Chavez general reported as captured

CARACAS — Security forces have captured one of President Hugo Chavez’s most-wanted military opponents, a retired general sought in connection with 2003 bomb attacks on Spanish and Colombian diplomatic offices in Caracas, officials said yesterday.

Dissident National Guard Gen. Felipe Rodriguez was arrested late Saturday by military intelligence officers who raided an apartment in east Caracas, state media reported.

Authorities had been hunting the general, nicknamed “the Raven,” for more than a year in connection with the Feb. 25, 2003, bomb blasts that damaged a technical office of the Spanish Embassy and Colombian Consulate.

KUWAIT

Cabinet approves anti-terror treaty

KUWAIT CITY — Kuwait’s Cabinet, cracking down on militants behind a surge in al Qaeda-linked violence, approved a draft law yesterday that enables it to formally join a U.N. treaty on curbing terror financing.

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