Kidnapings

In a bizarre turn in a case that has kept this nation in thrall, preliminary blood tests indicate that a child who has been a government ward for more than two years is the son of Clara Rojas, a presidential campaign manager held by leftist rebels who kidnapped her nearly six years ago.

Gunmen kidnapped an American aid worker and her driver Saturday from a residential neighborhood in southern Afghanistan's largest city as she was on her way to work. Cyd Mizell, 49, works here for the Asian Rural Life Development Foundation. Kandahar Gov. Asadullah Khalid blamed the "enemy of Islam and the enemy of Afghanistan" for the kidnappings. A professor at Kandahar University, Mohammad Gul, said Mizell taught English at the university and gave embroidery lessons at a girl's school.

Hundreds of thousands of people marched in cities across Colombia and around the world Monday to protest continued abductions carried out by leftist guerrillas in the South American nation. But the massive outpourings in Colombian cities and the scattered gatherings in Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Madrid and elsewhere were shunned by relatives of some captives. Opposition politicians in Colombia who said President Alvaro Uribe had overly politicized the day reluctantly took part.

The bullet-riddled body of an Iraqi newspaper reporter was recovered Tuesday in Baghdad, and police in the southern city of Basra began an intensive search for a Western journalist working for CBS News and his Iraqi interpreter. Journalists have been frequent targets in Iraq, which the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said remained the world's most deadly country for media workers despite recent security gains.

An Iraqi interpreter for CBS News kidnapped in Basra was freed Wednesday, but a British journalist remained in captivity, police said. Aqeel Khadhir was handed over to authorities at the hotel where he was seized in Basra, 275 miles south of Baghdad, Police Brig. Gen. Shamkhi Jassim said. Journalists at the hotel saw police officers escort the Iraqi interpreter to headquarters.

The body of an Ontario man who was beaten and then kidnapped from his home was uncovered in the San Bernardino Mountains on Saturday, five days after he disappeared, authorities said Monday. Santiago Contreras, 33, had been shot to death and was found on a mountain slope near California 138 in the Valley of Enchantment, but it was unclear when he was shot, according to Ontario Police Det. Jeff Higbee.

Gunmen kidnapped a Chaldean Catholic archbishop and killed three of his guards Friday in the latest attack targeting Iraq's dwindling Christian minority in this northern city. The armed group intercepted Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho as he left the Church of the Holy Spirit after celebrating Mass, said Iraqi Brig. Gen. Khalid Abdul Sattar, a spokesman for Nineveh province security forces.

Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan appeared on a video aired Saturday by an Arab satellite channel, saying he was kidnapped by Taliban militants more than two months ago. Ambassador Tariq Azizuddin, flanked by his driver and his bodyguard, was shown sitting on the ground amid green brush in front of three masked men wearing traditional robes and holding automatic weapons. "For 27 days, we have lived comfortably. . . .

By his own confession, Austrian police say, Josef Fritzl held his daughter inside a hidden, windowless cellar for nearly a quarter of a century, raping her repeatedly and forcing her to give birth to seven of his children. When two of the children were freed this week, authorities said they were seeing sunlight for the first time.

Eight people were arrested on suspicion of kidnapping a 24-year-old man after SWAT officers and detectives made a high-risk rescue Tuesday afternoon at a Reseda home, police said. Members of the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery-Homicide Division had the house in the 18300 block of Schoolcraft Street under surveillance after an attempt to deliver a ransom to the kidnappers failed.