World Scene

GUATEMALA

Earthquake strikes; people flee homes

GUATEMALA CITY — A powerful earthquake rattled Guatemala and El Salvador yesterday, and terrified residents ran from shaking buildings but there were no reports of casualties.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.8 and was centered in the Pacific Ocean about 46 miles south of the Guatemalan town of Escuintla.

Buildings in Guatemala City swayed for about 30 seconds, and residents fled into the streets. Parents formed long lines outside schools to look for their children, and authorities asked residents to stay out of high buildings, but there was no word of major damage.

INDONESIA

Bali terror suspect arrested in raid

JAKARTA — Indonesia’s most-wanted terrorist was being interrogated yesterday after his weekend arrest on suspicion of involvement in the 2002 Bali bombings and other deadly strikes, police said.

Abu Dujana, who reportedly leads the Southeast Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiyah, speaks Arabic fluently, is a skilled bomb maker and trained in Afghanistan, where he met Osama bin Laden, said police spokesman Sisno Adiwinoto.

The 37-year-old, who used at least six aliases, was arrested Saturday in one of a series of raids that netted seven other suspects.

AFGHANISTAN

Private jailer freed by president

KABUL — An American imprisoned in Afghanistan for running a private jail for terror suspects has left the Afghan prison where he was held for almost three years and departed the country, the warden said yesterday.

Jack Idema, a former Green Beret, was pardoned by President Hamid Karzai in late March as part of a general amnesty. Mr. Idema’s Afghan attorney said the American left the prison outside Kabul on June 2 and flew out of Afghanistan. He did not know Mr. Idema’s destination.

Mr. Idema was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a Kabul court in 2004 on charges of entering Afghanistan illegally, making illegal arrests, establishing a private jail and torturing captives.

VATICAN

Catholics urged to cut off Amnesty

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican yesterday said it was suspending all financial aid to Amnesty International and called on all Catholics to stop supporting the human rights group, accusing it of promoting abortion.

Cardinal Renato Martino, said the “suspension of all financing of Amnesty by Catholic organizations and by individuals” is the “inevitable consequence” of the group”s recent decision to support access to abortion for women who had been raped or whose health was endangered by their pregnancy.

GUYANA

JFK plot suspect’s sons denied bail

GEORGETOWN — A Guyanese judge denied bail yesterday for two sons of a suspect accused of plotting to bomb New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, ordering the pair to remain in jail on charges of illegal possession of ammunition.

Kareem and Iqra Kadir, sons of plot suspect Abdul Kadir, 55, a former opposition legislator in Guyana, pleaded not guilty when they made their first court appearance before Magistrate Judge Melissa Robertson-Ogle on the illegal munitions charge.

Prosecutors said a single round of ammunition for a high-powered rifle, which the brothers were not licensed to own, was found hidden at their home in the Guyanese city of Linden during a search by local police and FBI agents on Sunday.

From wire dispatches and staff reports