World Scene

ISRAEL

Hamas begins fund-raising drive

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Worshipers handed over cash and jewelry to armed and masked men at Gaza mosques yesterday, at the start of a drive by the militant group Hamas to raise money for its armed wing amid U.S. pressure to choke off its funds.

The collectors passed around charity boxes, netting about $120,000 in the first hours of the campaign for Hamas’ Izz el-Deen al-Qassam armed wing, responsible for killing hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings.

“Now you can help buy ammunition for the fighters,” said a Hamas statement distributed at the mosques.

The campaign is the first of its kind by the Islamic group.

ISRAEL

Arafat appeals to Iraqi hostage takers

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian President Yasser Arafat personally intervened yesterday to seek the release of two Palestinians who were abducted by insurgents in Iraq and accused of spying for Israel, his office said.

Israel earlier said it could do little to help the two men, who are residents of Israeli-controlled East Jerusalem.

Azzam al-Ahmad, Palestinian minister of technology and communications, said Mr. Arafat instructed the Palestinian office in Baghdad “to make contact with several Iraqi factions in order to solve this problem.”

AFGHANISTAN

Troops restore calm in north

KABUL — Afghan troops restored calm to the northern city of Maymana yesterday, one day after it was overrun by militia loyal to a powerful regional warlord, but the ousted governor remained in hiding and told the Associated Press he feared for his life.

Government soldiers retook the city in Faryab province without resistance, according to presidential spokesman Jawed Ludin.

President Hamid Karzai has ordered Gov. Enayatullah Enayat to resume his duties. Mr. Enayat was in hiding near the Turkmen border, and resting after breaking his leg in an accident.

FRANCE

Man’s extradition to U.S. allowed

GRENOBLE — A man who was captured in France and is charged in the United States with killing his lover can be extradited to Pennsylvania to face trial, a court in southern France ruled yesterday.

Paul Eduardovich Goldman, who faces first-degree murder charges in a Philadelphia suburb, had denied the charges against him and refused to return voluntarily to the United States. He made no comment on the ruling.

Mr. Goldman, 39, was caught Jan. 20 in the French Alpine city of Grenoble. His extradition from France was expected after authorities obtained assurances that Bucks County prosecutors would not seek the death penalty.

BURUNDI

Heavy fighting displaces thousands

BUJUMBURA — Renewed fighting between Burundi’s army and Hutu rebels has forced thousands of civilians to flee their homes in the hills near the capital, Bujumbura, a local official said yesterday.

“The rebels and the army fought heavily this morning; there is a massive displacement of the population,” said Felicien Ntahombaye, the local administrator of Kabezi commune.

“An estimated 27,000 people have fled their homes in the hills around Gitenga, Masama and Kiremba,” he said, adding that the displaced people had moved to nearby villages.

From wire dispatches and staff reports