World briefs

DAMASCUS, Syria - Two American journalists who went missing during a vacation in Lebanon eight days ago were arrested Thursday in Syria after they crossed the Lebanese-Syrian border with the help of smugglers, Syrian officials said.

The Syrian foreign ministry said Holli Chmela, 27, and Taylor Luck, 23 will be handed over to the U.S. Embassy following a completion of "necessary measures."

Smugglers are known to be active on the Lebanon-Syria border where they use unpaved mountainous roads to bring goods to both countries. Gangs are also known to smuggle people, mainly workers looking for jobs in Lebanon.

Lebanese authorities said departure records do not show that Chmela and Luck had formally left the country.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan - A suspected U.S. missile strike targeted two areas in a Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border Thursday, killing at least nine people, intelligence officials said.

The strikes appeared to be part of a surge in U.S. cross border assaults on alleged militant targets in Pakistan, which have strained ties between the two anti-terror allies.

Two local Pakistani intelligence officials, citing reports from informants and agents, said one strike occurred at a house in Tappi village in North Waziristan tribal region. Some of those killed were believed to be foreigners.

A second strike was reported at a house in the village of Dande Darpa Khel. The site was near a seminary of veteran Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, considered an archenemy of the U.S. No casualties were immediately reported from the latter strike.

HOHHOT, China - Peering into five pails of foaming milk, Wang Guifeng quickly jotted down the farmer's name before signaling the batch was OK. Every day he rejects milk from two or three farms whose cows don't meet hygiene standards. The inspections are part of a raft of new safety measures and increased supervision over the Chinese dairy industry in the wake of the country's tainted milk crisis.

"They (regulators) have tightened quality control and the farmers understand that. The farmers know they have to feed their cows well and not give them antibiotics or other things," he said.

VIENNA, Austria - North Korea announced Thursday that it is preparing to restart the facility that produced its atomic bomb, clearly indicating that it plans to completely pull out of an international deal to end its nuclear program.

North Korea also told the International Atomic Energy Agency that it was barring international inspectors from the Yongbyon facility, the agency said.