april 20

Reports say officials will begin to ease flight restrictions in Europe on Tuesday. European Union transportation ministers have agreed to create three areas in an attempt to halt the air travel interference caused by ash from a volcano in Iceland. One area will be open to all flights, another to limited flights. The third area will remain closed to all air traffic. The economic effect on the airline industry from the closing of airspace is greater that the effect of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States.

American and Iraqi officials say the two top al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq have been killed in a joint operation near the northern city of Tikrit. Officials said Iraqi forces supported by American troops killed al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri and top al-Qaeda militant Abu Umar al-Baghdadi. They were killed Sunday during a raid on their hiding place. Vice President Joe Biden praised the success of the raid and said it shows the improved ability of Iraqi security forces. He said one American soldier was killed in the operation. The American military says al-Masri assistant and a son of Baghdadi were also killed in the raid and sixteen others were arrested.

In Pakistan, two separate bomb explosions in the northwestern city of Peshawar have killed at least 23 people. Local police say the deadliest bombing targeted a protest against power cuts in the city. Police officers and protesters were among the dead. More than 30 others were wounded. Hours earlier, a bomb exploded near a school owned by a police organization. That attack killed a six-year-old boy and wounded ten other people. The provincial information minister told VOA the bombings in Peshawar were the work of Taliban extremists.

Officials in Afghanistan say three children have been killed by explosives in the southern city of Kandahar. The children killed in the explosion were family members of tribal leader Fazluddin Agha. He led Afghan President Hamid Karzai's election campaign last year. The explosion wounded at least five other people. Also in Afghanistan, one NATO soldier was killed in an explosion at a national army center in Kabul province. Several other NATO soldiers were wounded. The cause of the explosion is unclear.

Iranian news reports say President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has approved an area on which to build a new uranium enrichment center. The IRNA news agency reports presidential adviser Mojtaba Samareh-Hashemi as saying the work will begin on the president's order. In Washington, a presidential spokesman said reports from Iran about its nuclear program do not always meet the reality of what it can do. The United States has been leading efforts for the United Nations to declare more restrictions on Iran for its nuclear program.

A new report says more than $1-billion was spent in the fight against the disease malaria in Africa last year. That is more than six times the amount spent in 2004. The joint report was released by the United Nations Children's Fund and the Roll Back Malaria organization. It says spending is still falling far short of the estimated $6-billion a year needed to control the disease. Malaria kills nearly one million people each year, mostly in Africa. Most of the victims are children.

The United States says Sudan's first elections involving more than one party in 24 years were neither free nor fair. A State Department spokesman said the vote did not meet international standards. However, he said the United States knows the election was a very important step in carrying out a North-South peace agreement in Sudan. The agreement ended 21 years of civil war. Early election results show President Omar al-Bashir leading in votes. He was expected to win after his two main opponents withdrew. They accused the government of planning to cheat.

Ethnic clashes are reported in Kyrgyzstan. At least two people were killed when hundreds tried to seize land from ethnic Russians and Turks in the village of Mayevka near the capital Bishkek. At least 13 people were injured as rioters armed with sticks set homes on fire. The Interior Ministry says several arrests were made. Troops and government vehicles were called in to restore order. Kyrgyzstan has remained tense since President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted on April 7. He was forced to resign following anti-government protests that killed 84 people.

The Russian government is refusing to permit any more adoptions of Russian children by Americans until the United States guarantees their security. Russia's Foreign Ministry said the ban could continue for weeks. Russia says it wants the United States to agree to prevent a repeat of incidents like the one that took place earlier this month. An American woman placed her seven-year-old adopted Russian son on a flight back to Moscow by himself. She said in a note attached to the boy's belongings that he was violent and mentally ill. An American State Department spokesman said the government has not received official notice of the adoption suspension.

The officer who has been leading American military earthquake aid efforts in Haiti says the operation will end around June 1. Army Lieutenant General Ken Keen said 2,200 American troops remain in Haiti compared to the 22,000 involved in aid efforts following the earthquake in January. He said those forces will leave by June and 500 reserves will move in to help.