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DUBAI (Reuters) - The Iraqi captors of four Western peace activists said they were giving the U.S.-led forces a last chance to free Iraqi prisoners or they would kill the hostages, Al Jazeera television said on Saturday. The Arabic channel aired a video from the Swords of Truth group, apparently showing the two Canadians, one Briton and American man standing against a wall. The grainy footage was ...

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Fatah gunmen and Palestinian police, angry at Hamas's election victory, took over parliament buildings in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Saturday and opened fire in the air, witnesses said. Some climbed on to the roof of the parliament in Ramallah, which was not in session at the time, demanding the resignation of senior members of President Mahmoud Abbas's long-dominant Fatah movement. In the Gaza Strip, police briefly stormed into the parliament building's co ...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The eldest daughter of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet has been sent back to Argentina, two days after she arrived in the United States after fleeing tax charges in Chile, a U.S. Homeland Security official said. Shortly after withdrawing her request for political asylum in the United States, Lucia Pinochet, 60, was sent to Argentina -- the last country she was in before coming to the United States. "Lucia Pinochet is no longer in the custody of the Department of  ...

LONDON (Reuters) - England's 12 billion pound National Health Service hospital building programme under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) faces a cut of up to 40 percent, the Financial Times said on Saturday. Quoting leaked documents, the newspaper said there was a "reappraisal" of PFI hospitals under way and it could affect up to 40 PFI schemes. Any cut was likely to result in a reduction in the size of projects rather than their total abandonment, it added. A review of the Bart's element ...

DAVOS (Reuters) - Iran has little chance of avoiding being hauled before the U.N. Security Council unless it changes its stance on nuclear fuel enrichment, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Saturday. But Straw would not say directly if he still expected the U.N. nuclear watchdog to decide on a Security Council referral next week -- a prospect that has receded in recent days because of Russian and Chinese reservations. Asked if such a decision was still possible at the February 2 meeting of  ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Undercover police officers are operating as drug suppliers to trap middle-class cocaine users in sting operations, London police chief Ian Blair said on Saturday. On his first day in the job as the Metropolitan Police Commissioner in February 2005, Blair said he wanted to target more affluent drug takers who thought they were exempt from the law. "I can't imagine the circumstance in which the men of the (Scotland) Yard are crashing through the door of a Hampstead dinner part ...

By Wafa Amr RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Fatah gunmen called new protests in the West Bank on Saturday as tension with their Hamas rivals simmered after a day of street battles erupted in the wake of a crushing election victory by Hamas. Eight people were wounded in fighting between Fatah and Hamas supporters in the Gaza Strip on Friday amid political turmoil as the long-dominant Fatah faction digested its embarrassing defeat at the polls by the Islamic militant group. Fatah supporters pla ...

By Deborah Charles WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The eldest daughter of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was sent back to Argentina, two days after she arrived after fleeing tax charges in Chile, a U.S. Homeland Security official said on Friday. Shortly after withdrawing her request for political asylum in the United States, Lucia Pinochet Hiriart, 60, was sent to Argentina -- the last country  ...

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) -- President Evo Morales cut his salary in half and declared no Cabinet minister can collect a higher wage than his own, with the savings to be used to hire more public school teachers. The move followed a campaign pledge to tackle political corruption and restore honesty to the government of South America's poorest country. But critics called it a propaganda ploy that will do little to help the needy. Five days into his leftist government, Morales announced Thursday his  ...

RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) -- Army officials are investigating allegations that members of the celebrated 82nd Airborne Division appear on a gay pornography Web site, a spokeswoman said Friday. Authorities at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, have begun an inquiry into whether the soldiers' actions violated the military conduct code. Division spokeswoman Maj. Amy Hannah declined to say how many para ...