AL QAEDA TAPE: In a tape released Monday, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s deputy, urged Muslims to attack Jewish and American targets worldwide in retaliation for Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, intensifying an Al Qaeda push to use Arab anger to rally support.
BRAZIL OUTBREAK: Brazil will send hundreds of health workers to Rio de Janeiro state to help overwhelmed emergency rooms that are reporting 80 new cases of dengue fever every hour, the health minister announced Monday. More than 32,000 cases have been reported.
CHILE QUAKE: A powerful 6.2-magnitude quake shook northern Chile on Monday, briefly knocking out electricity to a city and alarming residents, authorities said. There were no immediate reports of deaths or major damage.
AUSTRIA HOSTAGES: Terrorists holding two Austrian tourists hostage extended a deadline for demands to be met by two more weeks Monday, calling it the final extension. Al Qaeda in Islamic North Africa set a deadline of midnight April 6 for several members to be freed from Algerian and Tunisian prisons.
SRI LANKA COMBAT: Government troops and Tamil rebels fought scattered battles across northern Sri Lanka over two days, killing 30 rebel fighters and four soldiers, the military said Monday.
KOREA EXCHANGE: South Korean President Lee Myung Bak has asked North Korea to consider sending home prisoners of war and captured civilians in return for receiving humanitarian aid from Seoul, though he stopped short of making the food aid contingent on their release.
———-
Page compiled from Tribune news services
