Israel says withdrawl from Palestine to begin

JERUSALEM -- Facing steady U.S. criticism, Israel agreed Friday to withdraw from several West Bank towns if Palestinians begin adhering to a cease-fire agreement, an aide to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said.

Sharon agreed to the phased withdrawal at a late-night meeting of his top Cabinet ministers. There was no immediate Palestinian response.

Israeli forces began entering six West Bank towns last Thursday, a day after the assassination of its ultranationalist tourism minister by a radical Palestinian group.

On Wednesday, Israeli troops swept through the West Bank village of Beit Rima, sparking a gunbattle that left five Palestinians dead.

Sharon had said Israeli troops would pull back only after Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat handed over Zeevi's killers and arrests militants. On Thursday, Israel withdrew from Beit Rima.

Soldiers kill Nigerian villagers in attack

ZAKI-BIAM, Nigeria -- The smell of death lingered Thursday over the deserted streets of this burned out village where soldiers bent on revenge destroyed homes and killed at least 130 people.

Bloated bodies scarred by bullets lay in the empty streets where stores and homes were looted and burned.

State officials say the raids were in reprisal for the abduction and killing of 19 soldiers by Tiv tribal fighters earlier this month in Benue state where villagers have waged a decade-long ethnic feud.

Soldiers in armored personnel carriers destroyed seven settlements, killing 130 people in just one village.

New York scaffolding collapse kills five

NEW YORK -- A building facade and scaffolding collapsed, killing five construction workers, and rescue crews rushed from the World Trade Center site two miles away to help free survivors.

Eleven workers were injured in the collapse at the 20-story Manhattan office building Wednesday, city officials said. In addition, eight firefighters and three police officers suffered minor injuries .

Rescue workers armed with flashlights worked late into the night to clear debris from the 20-foot pile of rubble. The loose bricks, broken wooden planks and bent metal poles were pulled from the pile and spread on neighboring streets.

Explosion rocks Thai army arsenal, 12 dead

PAK CHONG, Thailand -- Large explosions rocked a Thai army arsenal stocked with rockets and ammunition Thursday, leaving 12 people missing and feared dead, dozens injured and forcing the evacuation of a nearby town.

The blasts began when volatile outdated artillery shells and other munitions detonated as they were being transported from a warehouse to another spot for disposal, Army Commander Gen. Surayud Chulanont said.

He said seven soldiers and five security guards at the site were missing, but he could not confirm their deaths. Continuing explosions at the scene made it too dangerous to approach the site, he said.

Clinton's New York office gets salmonella

NEW YORK -- The Secret Service is investigating two vials containing salmonella that were sent to former President Clinton's office in Harlem. The agency said there is no connection to the anthrax scares.

"This has nothing to do with the other mailings" that have spread anthrax in Washington, New York, New Jersey and Florida, said Secret Service spokesman Jim Mackin. Salmonella is a food poisoning bacteria that rarely is deadly.

Mackin said 15 vials containing an unknown substance were in a package received at Clinton's office in early October. Clinton did not handle the package and nobody has gotten sick from it.

The vials contained white and red liquid, and the package was postmarked in Japan, and included a note written in Japanese on rice paper, the source said.

--From wire reports