Around the w o rld

Tabloid: Godfather fathered Jackson child

LONDON — A British tabloid reported Saturday that the godfather of Michael Jackson's three children claims to be the father of the singer's daughter Paris.

The News of the World quotes Jackson's longtime friend Mark Lester as saying that he "gave Michael my sperm so that he could have kids — and I believe Paris is my daughter."

The newspaper also quotes Lester, who is a 51-year-old former child star known for his lead role in the 1968 movie version of the stage show "Oliver!," as saying he's willing to take a paternity test.

In a video interview with Lester broadcast on the News of the World Web site, Lester said he donated his sperm at a London clinic. He said Jackson was married to Debbie Rowe at the time.

"She's the birth mother of the children so I naturally assumed the sperm donation would obviously have gone into Debbie, and Debbie would have borne the children," he said.

He said Paris resembled his own 15-year-old daughter.

Rowe said he had made the revelations because he has "concerns about the welfare and upbringing of the children."

MEXICO

Top cartel suspect captured in Tijuana

MEXICO CITY — Mexican federal police say they have captured a top lieutenant of the Tijuana-based Arellano Felix cartel.

Suspect Manuel Ivanovich Zambrano Flores is among those listed on a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration poster seeking information on the cartel.

The federal Public Safety Department said Saturday that Zambrano Flores was arrested in Tijuana, across from San Diego. Police seized 10 rifles, seven pistols and almost 4,000 rounds of ammunition.

The department says he was responsible "for a large part of the organization's drug shipments to the United States and its finances."

Zambrano Flores was detained Friday and is being held on suspicion of drug trafficking, weapons possession and organized crime charges.

SRI LANKA

Coalition, rebel party win in ex-battle zone

COLOMBO — Sri Lanka's ruling coalition and an ethnic Tamil party seen as a front for the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels have won the first postwar elections, held near the island's former battlefields.

According to state television, President Mahinda Rajapaksa's ruling coalition has captured Jaffna town council, securing 13 of the 23 seats, while the pro-rebel Tamil National Alliance came second with eight seats in the election held Saturday.

The pro-rebel party won the Vavuniya town council, taking five of the 11 seats, while the ruling party won two seats.

The victory in Jaffna, the heartland of the country's ethnic minority Tamils and birthplace of militancy, will give the government a chance to claim it as an endorsement of its handling of ethnic relations, postwar rehabilitation and a rejection of separatism.

However, the results do not fully reflect public opinion in these war-battered regions, with more than 77 percent of the Jaffna voters staying away and only half of the Vavuniya voters casting their ballots.

CUBA

Text is quick primer on Castro teachings

HAVANA — Cubans accustomed to hourslong speeches, thousand-word essays and lengthy interviews can now get Fidel Castro at a glance, thanks to a new dictionary of El Comandante's teachings.

"Unemployment" and "History" are among the myriad words for which the 339-page paperback provides definitions — based on snippets of speeches, columns and statements dispensed by Castro during the 49 years he governed the communist-run island.

The publication, which the government says is meant to provide guidance to Cuban thinkers, calls to mind the "Little Red Book" of the late Chinese communist leader, Chairman Mao Zedong.

YEMEN

Gov't hails release of 2 from US custody

SAN'A — The Yemeni government welcomed on Saturday the release of two Yemenis jailed in the U.S. over terrorism charges, and called for the return of those still held in Guantanamo Bay prison.

Yemeni Minister of Human Rights, Hoda al-Ban, said that the release of Sheik Mohammed Ali Hasan Al-Moayad and his assistant is a first step in the return of all Yemeni inmates.

"Releasing Al-Moayad ... is the first step on the road of freeing all the Yemenis imprisoned in Guantanamo and other American prisons so that they get a fair trial before Yemen's judiciary, if it was proven that they were involved in any terror cases," she told reporters in the capital San'a.

Al-Moayad, 60, who suffers from liver disease and other illnesses, was arrested in 2003 and sentenced to 75 years in prison for supporting terrorist groups such as al-Qaida.

VENEZUELA

Recalled envoy going back to Colombia

CARACAS — President Hugo Chavez said Saturday he's returning his ambassador to Colombia, moving to resolve rising diplomatic tensions over weapons found in a rebel cache.

Chavez told Ambassador Gustavo Marquez to return to Bogota 11 days after recalling him over Colombia's statement that the anti-tank weapons came from Venezuela.

"Go back to Bogota, Gustavo," Chavez said. "Go to work."

Chavez had accused Colombia — one of its largest trading partners — of acting irresponsibly in its accusation that anti-tank rocket launchers sold to Venezuela by Sweden during the 1980s were obtained by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Sweden confirmed the weapons were originally sold to Venezuela's military.

TONGA

93 now feared dead in sinking of ferry

NUKU'ALOFA — Ninety-three people were missing and feared dead Sunday after their ferry flipped and sank off Tonga, as divers continued to try and locate the sunken vessel in the deep waters off the South Pacific nation.

Police Chief Inspector Sokopeti To'ia said on Sunday that the latest count of those aboard the ill-fated ferry was 149, up from an earlier count of 141. Of those, 54 were rescued and two bodies recovered, leaving 93 missing.

The confirmed dead were a British man and a Polynesian woman.

Navy divers from Australia and New Zealand arrived Saturday to help comb the wreck for bodies, but were unable to locate the vessel in their first attempt, To'ia said.

The Associated Press