WORLD briefs

SAO PAULO. Relatives of Brazilian passengers who perished on an Air France jetliner that crashed over the Atlantic Ocean are demanding a criminal investigation. Government news service Agencia Brasil says the association representing the victims' relatives filed a petition with the federal attorney general's office requesting "an investigation against the possible culprits of the accident."

TEGUCIGALPA. Central America's development bank says it is freezing credits to Honduras following the June 28 coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya. Local media say the decision could affect infrastructure projects like planned highways in the impoverished Central American nation. The Central American Bank for Economic Integration said in a statement Wednesday that the freeze is provisional, while the banks' governors weigh whether to suspend financing.

MOSCOW. Sergei Mikhalkov, an author favored by Stalin who wrote the lyrics for the Soviet and Russian national anthems, persecuted dissident writers as part of the Soviet propaganda machine and fathered two noted film directors, has died at age 96.

HYDERABAD. Dozens of impoverished farmers struggling with debt and poor rainfall have killed themselves in southern India in recent weeks, leaving behind families plunged even further into poverty, activists and politicians said. Nearly every day, newspapers report more farmer suicides in Andhra Pradesh, a state of 80 million people where 70 percent of the population depends on agriculture — and which has suffered badly this year from weak monsoon rains.

LOS ANGELES. Two wildfires in the Angeles National Forest northeast of Los Angeles continue to burn as fire crews face another day of high heat. US Forest Service Capt. Jim Wilkins said Thursday the Morris Fire in the San Gabriel Mountains above the city of Azusa has grown to nearly 3 square miles.

BUCHAREST. Madonna condemned widespread discrimination against Roma, or Gypsies — during a concert in Bicharest and the cheers gave way to jeers. The mood change underscored how prejudice against Gypsies remains deeply entrenched across Europe.