- guardian.co.uk, Sunday March 23 2003 23.42 GMT
Three Afghan soldiers died, two were injured and four were kidnapped in two separate pre-dawn attacks on security checkposts near the eastern border town of Spin Boldak yesterday.
Police said the simultaneous attacks were the work of the Taliban and renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hizb-e-Islami group.
In south-eastern Afghanistan, where troops are searching caves and homes, a major military operation entered its third day. The US Army said it arrested two men and found a weapons cache.
Drugged babies found on bus
Police rescued 28 baby girls drugged and hidden in suitcases aboard a long-distance bus at Binyang, in the Guangxi region of southern China
The babies were under three months old. One subsequently died. No relatives have been traced. An unknown number of children are abducted each year for sale to childless families.
De Klerk hits back
South Africa's last white president, F.W. de Klerk, yesterday rejected the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report on his role in apartheid-era rights abuses, saying the commission's reconciliation campaign had failed.
The TRC released its final report on Friday, ending a seven-year probe into murder, torture and political crimes by all sides during four decades of white minority rule. The TRC heard from thousands of victims but was shunned by most of apartheid's leaders.
North Koreans call off talks
North Korea postponed talks with South Korea yesterday, blaming the south for beefing up its defences after the US strikes on Iraq.
In Beijing, a UN envoy said North Korea - which Washington claims is developing nuclear weapons - was concerned it would be the next US target.
Ailing Brando
Marlon Brando, 78, is reported to be fighting for his life after suffering heart failure.
The Godfather actor has refused doctors' advice to go into hospital, saying he wants to die at his home in Los Angeles, where he is receiving oxygen.
His estranged partner, Tarita Teriipia, has been called to his side. A family friend said Brando 'is not saying much and is refusing to eat'.
Brando, who once weighed 22 stone and boasted of eating five gallons of ice cream a week, has been married three times with seven children, and has been ill for some time.
Niger oil threat
Militants yesterday threatened to blow up 11 multinational oil installations they have captured in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta.
Dan Ekpebide, leader of Ijaw tribal fighters, said they had occupied the oil pipeline facilities since Friday.
