Thais halting cremation as precaution with SARS

HONG KONG -- Panicky Thai residents and some medical personnel blocked the cremation of a Hong Kong man who had died of SARS in Thailand, while health officials here warned Tuesday that the crisis could worsen even as new infections in China's Guangdong province have tapered off.

The global death toll climbed to at least 104 with new fatalities announced Tuesday in Hong Kong and Singapore from severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, and public worries were also on the rise.

Some in Thailand have feared the deadly virus would spread through the smoke from cremation.

A health official in the southern town of Hat Yai, Dr. Wichien Kaenploy, said he was "100 percent, even 1,000 percent sure" the cremation posed no risks of spreading the disease.

More than 2,600 people have now been infected worldwide with SARS, most of them in mainland China and Hong Kong. The United States has had no deaths from the disease but reports 148 suspected cases in 30 states.

Afghan troops capture 20 Taliban as U.S. searches

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- American troops began a search for suspected Taliban fighters in a remote southern corner of Afghanistan on Tuesday, while Afghan government soldiers arrested 20 Taliban suspects in separate raids, officials said.

The U.S. soldiers were conducting house-to-house searches in Sangeen district of Helmand province, said Dad Mohammed Khan, head of the province's intelligence department.

He did not say how many U.S. troops were involved in the operation. The troops reached the area from their base in Kandahar, 60 miles to the southeast, Khan said. There was no immediate confirmation of the operation by U.S. officials at the base.

Khan said the American troops may be looking for former Taliban commanders Mullah Dadullah and Mullah Akhtar Mohammed. Mullah Akhtar Mohammed and his brother, Abul Hassan, were in Sangeen district recently and distributed satellite phones and money among their supporters in several villages in the district, Khan said.

European nations blast Russia over Chechnya

GENEVA -- Twenty-two European countries submitted a proposed resolution to the United Nations' top human rights body Tuesday accusing Russia of grave rights violations in the breakaway republic of Chechnya.

The resolution presented to the U.N. Human Rights Commission accuses Russia of forced disappearances, summary executions, torture and harassment during so-called sweep operations, when Russian troops comb areas they control to search for rebel holdouts.The commission already has condemned Russia twice for abuses in Chechnya.

--From wire reports