Around the w o rld

Archaeologists make find near Stonehenge

LONDON — Archaeologists have discovered a smaller prehistoric site near Britain's famous circle of standing stones at Stonehenge.

Researchers have dubbed the site "Bluehenge," after the color of the 27 Welsh stones that were laid to make up a path. The stones have disappeared, but the path of holes remains.

Researchers from Sheffield University in northern England say the new circle represents an important find. The site is about a mile away from Stonehenge, which is believed to have been built around 2500 B.C.

Bluehenge, about 80 miles southwest of London, is thought to date back to the same period, but the exact circumstances of Bluehenge's construction aren't clear.

Researchers plan to publish more information about it next year.

HONDURAS

Foundation prepared for coup-crisis talks

TEGUCIGALPA — The factions fighting for control of Honduras have begun talking days before a meeting that many hope will end a political crisis sparked by Central America's first coup in more than a decade.

Interim President Roberto Micheletti told reporters that a dialogue is "beginning" between his supporters and those of President Manuel Zelaya, who was forced from office on June 28 by a military-backed coup and is now holed up in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa.

"We are having talks with different sectors officially, with people from Mr. Zelaya's side and with others," Micheletti said Friday outside the presidential palace, hours after meeting with a delegation of four Republican members of the U.S. Congress.

Zelaya supporters expressed skepticism about Micheletti's willingness to compromise.

VENEZUELA

2,000 march, saying Chavez abuses foes

CARACAS — Some 2,000 people marched across Venezuela's capital Saturday to protest what they say is the persecution of President Hugo Chavez's opponents.

The marchers called on the Organization of American States to investigate what they consider a deterioration of human rights in the country.

No arrests or confrontations with police were reported during the march. But Venezuelan state television said later that its reporter had been harrassed by marchers.

More than 2,000 Chavez opponents have gone to trial in the last seven years on charges stemming from participation in protests and roughly 40 are still in prison, according to the Venezuelan Penal Forum, a local human-rights group.

Chavez has denied bringing trumped-up charges against political opponents.

RUSSIA

Hydroelectric disaster blamed on negligence

MOSCOW — Russia's top industrial safety oversight official said Saturday that negligence was a major factor in a devastating accident at the country's biggest hydroelectric power plant, and hinted that high-level officials could face trial over the disaster that killed 75 workers.

Outlining a report on the causes of the Aug. 17 accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya plant in southern Siberia, Rostekhnadzor director Nikolai Kutin described it in chilling detail. Part of an overstrained turbine unit weighing 1,500 tons snapped off its restraining bolts and sailed 45 feet into the air, he said, unleashing flooding, short circuits and wreckage that crippled the plant and doomed dozens of workers in seconds.

SPAIN

Hijacked trawler seen; warship on its way

MADRID — A trawler hijacked by pirates in the Indian Ocean has been spotted by navy aircraft and the 36-man crew is safe, the Spanish government said.

Defense Ministry spokesman Constantino Mendez said the Spanish warship Canarias was heading toward the tuna-fishing vessel and should sight the fishing boat before the pirates can reach port in Somalia.

The boat, the Alakrana, was boarded by Somali pirates early Friday when it was working waters 800 miles away from the nearest navy escort, the government said.

ITALY

Workers dig for 30 missing in mudslide

ROME — Rescue workers dug for a second day Saturday through piles of mud and debris as they searched for about 30 missing people from a mudslide that has killed at least 21 in Sicily.

Premier Silvio Berlusconi said he feared the death toll from Italy's worst mudslides in a decade could rise to 50. Rivers of mud unleashed by heavy rains flooded parts of Messina, a city in eastern Sicily, on Friday.

The Associated Press