WORLD IN BRIEF

AFGHANISTAN

U.S. to Temper Appeals For More NATO Help

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Friday that the Bush administration has decided to tone down its appeals to NATO allies for more troops and other aid in the fight against the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.

After two days of talks in Scotland with his counterparts from Britain, Canada and five other NATO countries whose troops are doing the bulk of the fighting in Afghanistan's south, Gates said he would continue making the case for greater military aid but would keep in mind the "political realities" faced by some European governments.

S. Korea Withdraws Troops

South Korea brought home 195 army medics and engineers Friday from Afghanistan, ending its five-year deployment to help rebuild the country. South Korea had planned to withdraw the troops, but reconfirmed that pledge to win the freedom of 21 civilians kidnapped in July after the Taliban killed two hostages.

BRITAIN

Anglican Leader Reaffirms Exclusion of Two Bishops

The archbishop of Canterbury said Friday he would not reverse his decision to exclude a gay U.S. bishop from joining other bishops at a global Anglican gathering next year.

The office of Archbishop Rowan Williams said he also had not changed his mind about refusing an invitation to Martyn Minns, a traditionalist who was consecrated as a bishop in the Anglican Church of Nigeria to minister to disaffected Episcopalians in the United States. He is a former rector of Truro Church in Fairfax City, Va.

ALGERIA

More Bodies of U.N. Staff Found in Bombing Rubble

The United Nations raised the death toll of staffers killed in the truck bombing of its Algiers headquarters to 17 on Friday, after rescue workers found more bodies under rubble.

That brings the total killed in Tuesday's terrorist attacks in the capital to 37, according to Algeria's Interior Ministry. Al-Qaeda's North African wing asserted responsibility for the dual suicide bombings, which struck the building housing the country's Supreme Court as well as the U.N. buildings.

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Dec. Migrant Drownings Exceed 200

More than 200 migrants are feared to have drowned at sea in separate incidents off Yemen, Turkey and the Canary Islands this month, the U.N. refugee agency said.

From News Services