World briefs

BOGOTA – It's a pact they made in the jungle.

The three U.S. military contractors who spent 1,967 days as captives of Colombia's main rebel group agreed they would write their story together.

Now HarperCollins publicist Dee Dee DeBartlo says the publisher's William Morrow imprint will issue their book, "Out of Captivity," on Feb. 26.

Military agents posing as an international humanitarian group rescued Marc Gonsalves, Tom Howes and Keith Stansell on July 2 along with French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt.

CANCUN, Mexico – The bodies of a retired Mexican brigadier general and two other men were found Tuesday in a sport utility vehicle abandoned on a highway outside of Cancun, the resort's mayor said. All had been shot many times.

Officials said they had not located any suspects or uncovered any clear motive in the killings, part of a wave of mostly drug-related violence. More than 5,000 homicides linked to organized crime were reported last year.

MOSCOW – President Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday that Russia and its ex-Soviet allies want to help the United States stabilize Afghanistan, saying Moscow wanted "full-fledged" cooperation with Washington.

He spoke a day after the ex-Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan announced it would evict the U.S. from an air base key to the Afghan war. Kyrgyzstan made the move after getting a promise for $2 billion in loans from Russia — which resents the American presence in a region Moscow regards as part of its traditional sphere of influence.

CAIRO – The Saudi government acknowledged Wednesday that 11 men on the country's most wanted list are former Guantanamo prisoners who went through rehabilitation, raising doubts about a program intended to counter extremist religious ideology.

President Barack Obama signed an executive order closing down the prison in Cuba on Jan. 22 leaving nations scrambling over what to do with a potential flood of released detainees.

Some 133 of Guantanamo's over 700 inmates were Saudi, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Gen. Mansour al-Turki, and 117 have returned to Saudi Arabia and been through rehabilitation programs.

STRASBOURG, France – The European Parliament urged EU nations on Wednesday to help President Barack Obama by accepting inmates from the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay.

By a vote of 542 to 55, the legislators said that once such inmates are not considered a security risk, member nations should do their utmost to take them in. Fifty-one lawmakers abstained from the vote.