WORLD briefs

PAKISTAN. Pakistan's Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, who unleashed a fearsome campaign of suicide attacks and assassinations that made him the country's most-wanted man, was killed in a US missile strike, an aide said yesterday. The US put a $5 million bounty on his head in March. Increasingly, American missiles fired by unmanned drones have focused on Mehsud-related targets.

PORTUGAL. Portugal has agreed to take two Syrian detainees from Guantanamo on humanitarian grounds, the government said Friday — becoming the third EU nation to accept inmates from the US military prison. The pair will be granted special visas under a law covering humanitarian concerns or national interest, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its Web site, without elaborating. It did not identify the detainees or say when they might arrive

PUERTO RICO.The US Department of Agriculture has been fined tens of thousands of dollars for alleged improper maintenance of underground storage tanks in Puerto Rico. The US Environmental Protection Agency says the department has agreed to pay $30,000 in penalties. It also plans to remove fuel storage tanks in the coastal cities of Mayaguez and Isabela, where the agency operates tropical agriculture research stations.

NIGERIA. Nigerian President Yar'Adua formally received the first set of 32 Niger Delta militants who have surrendered their arms under an amnesty he offered them in June and commended them for their "patriotism".Yar'Adua had last June 25 declared an unconditional amnesty for all militants who lay down their arms.

RUSSIA. A Moscow court rejected a plea by the family of slain Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya for a new investigation into her death, leading critics again to accuse authorities of not being interested in hunting the perpetrators. Three men are being retried for allegedly playing minor roles in Politkovskaya's 2006 slaying after the Supreme Court overturned their acquittal in June. Politkovskaya's family had hoped the retrial, would spur a new inquiry to discover the masterminds of the killing. Prosecutors had backed the request for a new investigation. Politkovskaya harshly criticized the Kremlin.