S. Korean president will meet with Bush

SEOUL, South Korea

South Korea's president will make his first trip to the United States next month to seek a peaceful solution to the standoff with North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear programs, his office said yesterday.

Roh Moo-hyun will meet President Bush on May 14 and spend five days in Washington, New York and San Francisco, Roh's office said in a statement.

Washington wants to settle the nuclear crisis through multilateral channels, saying North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons programs threaten not just American interests but also those of Russia, China, Japan and South Korea.

But North Korea wants one-on-one talks to negotiate a nonaggression treaty. It has accused the United States of planning to invade once it is done fighting in Iraq.

Roh and Bush "will hold in-depth discussions to forge a common stance on bringing about a peaceful resolution to the North Korean nuclear issue," the statement from Roh's office said.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said yesterday the meeting will reaffirm the nations' commitment "as full partners to bring about a peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue" and to promote bilateral economic ties.

The nuclear dispute flared in October when U.S. officials said North Korea admitted having a secret nuclear program in violation of a 1994 pact.

China accused of concealing spread of SARS

BEIJING

A prominent Chinese doctor charged yesterday that the mainland government covered up details of the spread of SARS in Beijing, and an American man with the disease was declared dead in Hong Kong after being driven across the border in an ambulance.

Other parts of Asia nervously invoked extra precautions to contain severe acute respiratory syndrome, which has infected around 2,700 people globally and killed at least 106.

The accusations of a government cover-up from Jiang Yanyong, retired chief of surgery for a Beijing military hospital, came as news surfaced that one of Beijing's hospitals had shut down because of SARS.

Jiang said doctors and nurses at two other hospitals told him at least seven deaths have occurred in their hospitals and that there were 106 cases of the disease in Beijing - more than five times the figure announced by authorities. The Health Ministry reports four deaths and 19 cases in Beijing.

Doctors and administrators reached by telephone at the hospitals cited by Jiang refused to comment.

Boarding school re kills 28, injures 100

MOSCOW

A fire raged through a boarding school for the deaf in southern Russia early today, killing 28 children and injuring about 100 others, Russian media reported.

Rescue efforts at the school in Makhachkala were slowed since each of the children had to be awakened individually because they could not hear alarms, NTV television reported.

Four of the injured children were listed in serious condition.

Makhachkala is located near the Caspian Sea about 950 miles southeast of Moscow.

The fire came on the heels of a deadly school blaze in northern Siberia earlier this week. A two-story, old wooden school in a village in the republic of Yakutia was completely destroyed in the fire Monday, which killed 22 students between the ages of 11 and 18 and injured at least 10.

Abbas delays naming Palestinian ofcials

JERUSALEM

The newly appointed Palestinian prime minister delayed naming his government yesterday because of a dispute with Yasser Arafat over who should be in charge of the region's security forces.

Prime minister-designate Mahmoud Abbas' delay came as five Palestinians, including a 16-year-old boy, were killed during clashes with Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip. The two events were not related. The choice for the post of interior minister could determine the credibility of a new government, which Western mediators and Israel hope will crack down on Palestinian militants.

Abbas favors former Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan, who also is backed by international mediators and is seen as likely to try to rein in militants. Arafat wants to retain his longtime aide Hani al-Hassan, who has served as interior minister for months but has made no serious move toward reforms, officials have said.

Cuba: Quick trials a defense against U.S.

HAVANA

Cuba defended its speedy prosecution of 75 dissidents, saying yesterday it had to protect itself against U.S. attempts to subvert the government. It also maintained that the cases' timing had nothing to do with war in Iraq.

The United States, which has dismissed the Cuban allegations, condemned the crackdown. "This is symptomatic of the dictatorship of the Cuban regime," White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said yesterday.