WORLD IN BRIEF

Pope Visits Switzerland, Vows to Continue Travels

BERN, Switzerland -- A frail Pope John Paul II arrived in Switzerland on Saturday -- his first foreign trip in nine months. He told a group of young people he had no intention of giving up the papacy and said he had a duty to keep traveling.

The pontiff spoke to a rally of 13,000 Swiss Roman Catholic youths, his hands trembling but his voice clear. He had difficulty speaking at times, but the crowd encouraged him by cheering.

"It's wonderful to be able to offer oneself until the end for the cause of the kingdom of God," he said, describing that as his testimony after nearly 60 years as a priest.

The pontiff, 84, has Parkinson's disease and crippling hip and knee ailments, but he has repeatedly brushed aside suggestions that he step down.

On Friday, while receiving President Bush at the Vatican, John Paul's hands trembled badly and it was hard to understand his speech.

The pope appeared alert and spoke more clearly after arriving in Bern for a 32-hour visit. For the first time on a foreign trip, aides rolled his wheeled throne onto a van, instead of carrying him onto a vehicle.

The Middle East

• KUWAIT CITY -- A criminal court convicted seven Kuwaiti Islamic extremists of involvement in the 2002 shooting attack on U.S. Marines that killed one and injured a second during training in the oil-rich country.

Three of the key suspects received four or five years in prison for joining an illegal organization and weapons possession. They and three of the others were fined $680 to $17,000. One was given two years probation, and five were acquitted.

• JERUSALEM -- Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz ruled that Tourism Minister Benny Elon, fired by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Friday, could not take part in a cabinet vote Sunday on Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, Israel TV reported.

Elon, a staunch opponent of the withdrawal plan, went into hiding Friday to avoid the delivery of his dismissal letter and delay the cabinet vote, but resurfaced Saturday in Jerusalem.

A Justice Ministry spokesman declined to confirm the TV report.

• TEHRAN -- Iranian police have killed at least 58 drug smugglers and confiscated more than 50 tons of narcotics in more than 100 operations over the past two months, a top police official said.

"The huge amount of narcotics seized is demonstration of a crisis caused by mass production of various types of drugs in neighboring Afghanistan," state-run radio quoted Gen. Mahdi Abouei as saying. Seven police officers were killed in the raids, he said. Police also detained 20,000 smugglers and distributors, as well as 41,000 addicts, since April, according to the radio report.