Desde Washington; Colombia, un Éxito Propio y Bipartidista

Si observamos a Colombia cinco a�os atr�s, habr�a sido justo decir que estaba cayendo en una incontrolable anarqu�a --un gobierno intimidado por una mort�fera mezcla de alas de izquierda y derecha-- grupos terroristas y es de droga pugnando por una, econom�a basada m�s en la coca�na que en el comercio honesto.

La batalla no ha concluido, pero la eliminaci�n del cartel de droga de Cali y la extradici�n de sus l�deres es una gran victoria. La guerra contra el ala izquierdista de las FARC sigue, pero ahora combate agresivamente.

Los �ltimos reportes indican que del 2000 a 2004 Colombia entren� 110,000 nuevos polic�as, redujo una tercera parte del �rea de cultivo de la …

US training Iraqis to defeat deadly roadside bombs

Two Iraqi soldiers acting as insurgents hook up a cellular phone detonator to a 155mm artillery shell with a coiled red wire, bury the mock bomb in a pile of dirt next to a rusty electricity pole and then disappear down the street.

Minutes later, an Iraqi army patrol in Humvees and an armored vehicle with radio-jamming equipment speed into the dusty intersection and disable the bomb remotely with a robot, as U.S. and Iraqi generals observe the training drill from the shade of a tent.

The exercise at this sandy, wind-swept Iraqi military base south of Baghdad is part of U.S. efforts to pass on hard-learned lessons to Iraq's army on how to combat what has long …

BEARS NOTES

If quarterback Jim McMahon can't start the Bears' exhibitionfinale Saturday, coach Mike Ditka said Mike Tomczak will. "He did alot of good things," Ditka said of Tomczak's first NFL start Saturdayin the 14-7 loss to St. Louis. Tomczak didn't match his threetouchdown passes in each of the previous two games, but Ditka wasmore upset about his two interceptions.

Ditka said he didn't know whether McMahon would practice today."I'll expect him to work out but if he can't work out, he won't,"Ditka said. "I don't expect anything but what he does." McMahon, witha pulled upper leg muscle, has missed three games.

Ditka did not want to discuss whether Tomczak had replaced …

Al-Qaida Has Rebuilt, U.S. Intel Warns

WASHINGTON - A new threat assessment from U.S. counterterrorism analysts says that al-Qaida has used its safe haven along the Afghan-Pakistan border to restore its operating capabilities to a level unseen since the months before Sept. 11, 2001.

A counterterrorism official familiar with a five-page summary of the document - titled "Al-Qaida better positioned to strike the West" - called it a stark appraisal. The analysis will be part of a broader meeting at the White House on Thursday about an upcoming National Intelligence Estimate.

The official and others spoke to The Associated Press on condition they not be identified because the report remains classified.

The …

Moldovan Parliament fails to elect president

Moldova's Parliament has narrowly failed to elect a president after the opposition boycotted the vote, claiming the April 5 elections were rigged.

Former Prime Minister Zinaida Greceanii, a Communist, won 60 votes in Wednesday's ballot _ one short of the 61 needed. Another candidate did not win any votes.

Three opposition parties …

Grim `Shoah' to air on Channel 11

NEW YORK "Shoah," beginning from 8 to 11 tonight on WTTW-Channel 11,is a critically acclaimed documentary that revives the horror ofAdolf Hitler's death camps without using a single frame of theatrocities.

Instead, "Shoah" tells the story through the recollections ofthe survivors, the townspeople who worked around the camps, and oneof the SS officers.

Airing on PBS during National Holocaust Remembrance Week, thefour-part documentary of the Holocaust will continue from 8 to 10p.m. tomorrow, 8 to 10:30 p.m. Wednesday and 8 to 11 p.m. Thursday.

If one can stomach four nights of hell, "Shoah" is amasterpiece.

Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert …

18 South Koreans Abducted in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan - Taliban gunmen abducted 18 mostly female members of a South Korean church group, and a purported spokesman for the Islamic militia said Friday the group will be questioned about their activities in the country before their fate is decided.

Gunmen seized the bus Thursday as it traveled on the main road from the southern city of Kandahar to the capital Kabul, said Mohammad Zaman, the Ghazni province deputy police chief.

He blamed the kidnapping, which took place in Qarabagh district, on the "enemies of Afghanistan," a usual reference for Taliban and other militants that are active in the area.

Zaman could not say how many people were on the bus. A South Korean Foreign Ministry official said that some Koreans may have been kidnapped, but provided no details.

Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, the purported Taliban spokesman, said 18 South Koreans, 15 women and three men, were abducted by the militants.

"We are investigating, who are they, what are they doing in Afghanistan," Ahmadi said, speaking on a satellite phone from an undisclosed location. "After our investigation, the Taliban higher authorities will make a decision about their fate."

"Right now they are safe and sound," Ahmadi told The Associated Press.

Ahmadi's claim could not be independently verified.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Friday that the kidnapped Koreans were members of Saemmul Community Church in Bundang, south of the capital, Seoul.

A church official confirmed 20 of its members were in Afghanistan for volunteer work, adding that the church was currently unable to reach them.

"The Foreign Ministry has informed us this morning that the abductees could be our church members, so we are trying to confirm it," the official said on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to talk to the media.

The group left South Korea last Friday and was to return on July 23, she said.

The kidnapping comes a day after two Germans and five of their Afghan colleagues, working on a dam project, were abducted in the central Wardak province.

On June 28, another German man was kidnapped in western Afghanistan, but was released after a week. The kidnappers, using tribal elders as intermediaries, demanded $40,000. It was not clear whether money changed hands.

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Associated Press writer Noor Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.