Gwinnett Daily Post

Two arrested in Van Gogh slaying

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Authorities have arrested two Chechen citizens in France and the Netherlands in connection with the November slaying of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, prosecutors said Thursday.

One of the suspects, Bislan I., 25, was arrested May 18 in France, prosecution spokesman Rob Meulenbroek said. The second suspect, Marad J., 22, was arrested April 19.

26 feared dead in Congo crash

KINSHASA, Congo - Twenty-six people were missing and feared dead after a plane crashed in eastern Congo, an aviation official said Thursday.

The plane, which disappeared shortly after takeoff Wednesday, was found Thursday near Bunyakiri, a village located in dense forests and mountains.

Rights group calls for investigation of Uzbek violence

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan - A U.S.-based rights group accused the Uzbek government Thursday of covering up the truth about a violent crackdown in the city of Andijan, and it urged Western governments to push harder for an international inquiry.

Human Rights Watch's call for an investigation comes as President Islam Karimov visits China, which has backed his government and has been watching Uzbekistan since U. S. troops arrived there after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Irish police kill two robbers

DUBLIN, Ireland - Police killed two gunmen in a Dublin post office Thursday, the first fatal shootings by Ireland's largely unarmed force in five years.

Police shot both would-be robbers in a stakeout inside the post office in Lusk, north of the capital.

Spain jails Basque politician thought to belong to ETA

MADRID, Spain - The head of an outlawed pro-independence Basque party has been jailed by a judge who accused him of leading the armed separatist group ETA, but the man's associates said Thursday the action undermined efforts for peace.

The order against Arnaldo Otegi came late Wednesday after a car bomb blamed on ETA injured 52 people in Madrid. Otegi has denied belonging to ETA.

U.S. embassy in Indonesia closed

JAKARTA, Indonesia - The United States closed all its diplomatic offices in Indonesia on Thursday because of an unspecified security threat, and it issued fresh warnings of possible terrorist attacks in the world's most populous Muslim country.

- From wire reports