LONDON. Custody extended for bomb plot suspects

A British court extended the time nine suspects in the alleged plot to blow up US ? bound flights can be held without being charged, officials said. Scotland Yard said two others were freed. Authorities said eight suspects who have not been charged could be kept in custody until August 30, giving police more time to quiz them about the plot they have said involved liquid-based explosives, while the ninth suspect had his detention extended until yesterday.The 11 were among about two dozen people arrested Aug. 10 in police raids in London, Birmingham and High Wycombe, about 30 miles northwest of the capital. The others arrested have either been charged or released.

DONETSK. Mourning relatives visit Russia crash site.

Some 140 relatives traveled in a bus convoy to the crash site near the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, where they were met by medical personnel and an Orthodox priest in long black robes. The families gathered near a large wooden cross with a sign reading : ?Donetsk Grieves.? Many appeared to be praying silently. Investigators are focusing on weather conditions, including lightning and turbulence, as the possible cause for Tuesday?s crash, which killed all those aboard the Russian airliner, including 45 children. The plane had been flying from Anapa ? a holiday destination on the Russian Black Sea coast ? to St. Petersburg. The pilot sent repeated distress signals during a severe thunderstorm before the Pulkovo Airlines? Tu-154 disappeared from radar screens.

BEIJING. Blind China activist sentenced to prison.

A blind activist who was arrested after recording complaints of forced abortions was sentenced yesterday to four years and three months in prison on what his supporters say were phony charges, a defense lawyer saidChen Guangcheng was convicted of damaging property and ?organizing a mob to disturb traffic?after a trial in the eastern province of Shandong, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Chen?s supporters say local officials fabricated the charges against him in retaliation for his activism. Li said Chen would appeal.Chen was put on trial last week without his lawyers present after police detained three members of the defense team on theft charges and refused to let them see evidence against him.The US State Department criticized the lawyers? detention, saying it raised questions about China?s commitment to the rule of law.

KINSHASA. Cease-fire holds in Congo?s capital city.

A truce between troops loyal to Congo?s two presidential candidates held Wednesday and calm returned to the capital, officials said, after three days of Kinshasa?s worst violence in several years. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the rivals to meet ?as quickly as possible to ease tensions,? UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at UN headquarters in New York.He said top UN envoy William Lacy Swing was in Congo ?pushing hard? to arrange a meeting of President Joseph Kabila and former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba. The clashes erupted Sunday as officials announced Kabila failed to win an outright majority in Congo?s first balloting in decades, meaning he would face Bemba in a second round. UN spokesman Kemal Saiki said a cease-fire brokered Tuesday by the world body was holding and transportation had returned to normal in Kinshasa.The three days of fighting left 31 people dead, a Congolese military official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.While Congo?s eastern borderlands remain violent, widespread fighting hadn?t hit Kinshasa since the 2002 peace accords that established a national-unity government

SOUTH AFRICA. Government under fire as new AIDS protests hit the country. AIDS activists launched protests yesterday demanding the dismissal of South Africa?s health minister as a new study said the country faced as many as 9 million new HIV cases by 2025 if the crisis is not contained. The Treatment Action Campaign, nominated for a Nobel Peace prize in 2003 for its AIDS activism, said Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang was to blame for an epidemic which kills more than 900 South Africans every day. Protests were planned across the country, which with some 5.4 million HIV/AIDS cases is the epicentre of Africa?s AIDS pandemic.