BISHKEK - Kyrgyzstan faced its second hostage crisis in a month after some 30 gunmen crossed from Tajikistan, seized a village and took at least six hostages including four Japanese geologists and a Kyrgyz commander and Kyrgyz Defence Minister Myrzakan Subanov was sacked on Tuesday.

GOLCUK, Turkey - One week after a devastating earthquake killed over 17,000 people in Turkey, rescuers refused on Tuesday to give up hope of finding more survivors in the rubble.

ORAHOVAC, Serbia - Kosovo Albanians maintained a blockade around their town on Tuesday to prevent Russian peacekeepers taking over from the Dutch soldiers who patrol there.

DOVER, England - A cruise liner carrying about 2,400 passengers limped into the English port of Dover on Tuesday after a collision with a cargo ship which left three passengers injured.

LONDON - London police are to seek the help of churches, synagogues and mosques in combating racism.

GENEVA - Tents are urgently needed for 200,000 people left homeless by Turkey‘s quake as foreign search and rescue teams pull out of stricken areas.

BAGHDAD - Iraq on Tuesday protested to the United Nations‘ Commission on Human Rights against what it termed deliberate killing by Western warplanes enforcing no-fly zones in its south.

JERUSALEM - The Israeli army on Tuesday confirmed that Israeli warplanes had attacked suspected guerrilla targets in south Lebanon overnight.

JOHANNESBURG - South African public sector workers went on strike on Tuesday to protest against a wage deal imposed by the government and demand fresh pay talks.

UNITED NATIONS - Aid agencies told the U.N. Security Council it was doing too little to bring peace to Angola, where 1.7 million people are homeless and 200 are dying each day.

NAIROBI - Kenya‘s wildlife authorities said on Tuesday they had arrested four members of a five-strong gang of elephant poachers believed to be responsible for the deaths of at least six animals.

JAKARTA - At least nine people have been killed in clashes between Christians and Moslems in Indonesia‘s riot-torn eastern Moluccas.

TAIPEI - A Taiwan domestic jetliner, crippled by a cabin fire, managed to land on Tuesday in eastern Hualien and evacuate its passengers before being consumed by flames.

BERLIN - Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder started work in Berlin, the first time Germany has been governed from its traditional capital since World War Two.

HONG KONG - A team of American aviation experts will arrive in Hong Kong on Tuesday to help investigate the crash of a China Airlines jetliner which claimed two lives.

SANTIAGO - Chile said former dictator Augusto Pinochet‘s health is worsening and he may not be able to withstand a lengthy trial in Europe on charges of human rights abuses.

WASHINGTON - The chief prosecutor at the impending trial of two Libyans charged with the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, said he would indict other people if evidence of their involvement emerged at the trial.

NEW YORK - Blue-chip stocks rallied to a record high and the dollar rose sharply as Wall Street set aside fears of repeated interest rate hikes a day before the Federal Reserve was expected to tighten credit.

LAREDO, Texas - Dying Hurricane Bret spun toward the Rio Grande on Monday after a wet and windy trip across southern Texas that was more sound than fury.

SANAA - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said those behind the kidnapping of two French diplomats in Yemen were agents of foreign states and wanted for attempted murder.