WORLD briefs

LA PALMA, Canary Islands. Strong winds fanned forest fires for a second day Sunday on the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma, and firefighters were forced to retreat as flames raged out of control near two towns. A large plume of smoke could be seen rising from the 706 sq. kilometer (273 sq. mile) island's southern tip where fires were active on two fronts. Around 500 firefighters have been deployed along with seven water-dropping aircraft.

KANO, Nigeria. More than 700 people were killed during a five-day uprising by a radical Islamic sect in northern Nigeria and the search for bodies is continuing, Red Cross and defense officials said on yesterday. Gunbattles raged for days last week as the security forces fought to put down the uprising by members of Boko Haram, a militant movement which wants sharia (Islamic law) to be imposed more widely in Africa's most populous nation. Violence flared in several states but Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state where sect leader Mohammed Yusuf had his base, saw the heaviest fighting.

HAVANA, Cuba. Raul Castro announced Saturday that Cuba will cut spending on education and health care, potentially weakening the building blocks of its communist system in a bid to revive a foundering economy. The former defense minister who took over the presidency last year called state spending "simply unsustainable" and said the cash-strapped government would reorganize rural schools and scrutinize its free health care system in search of ways to save money.

BEIJING, China. A town in a Tibetan area in northwest China has been sealed off after two of its residents died from pneumonic plague, the local government and state media said yesterday. Ziketan town in Qinghai province was put under collective quarantine Saturday when laboratory tests showed it had been struck by the highly virulent disease, the Qinghai health bureau said in a statement. A 32-year-old herdsman had died from the plague, while 11 others had been diagnosed with it, according to the statement. Late Sunday, the local government reported the dead man's neighbour had also died. Ziketan, which is located in the Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture