Authorities in Laos have arrested four U.S. nationals who witnessed the surrender Saturday of about 170 relatives of ethnic Hmong rebels. The Hmong have been fighting a low-level insurgency against the communist government of Laos since the end Vietnam War.
The two Americans (Ed and Georgie Szendrey) and two Hmong-Americans (Sia Cher Vang and Nhia Vang Yang) are members of the Fact Finding Commission, a U.S.-based organization backing the Hmong rebels.
Thai police say attackers believed to be Muslim separatists have beheaded a Buddhist rubber plantation worker in the country's troubled south.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has met with Thai officials to discuss regional security concerns.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun has pledged to solve the international standoff over North Korea's nuclear weapons [rogram through diplomacy.
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