BOGOTA. Colombia suspended gas exports to Venezuela for technical reasons, the country's state-controlled oil company said, amid a diplomatic spat between the two neighbors over military deals. Service along the pipeline that ships Colombian gas to the Venezuelan port city of Maracaibo would be restored no later than September 22. Halted exports have "nothing to do with the current diplomatic crisis the two nations are living through," officials said.
LA PAZ. The US Embassy in Bolivia says it is closing some democracy-promotion programs at the request of the Bolivian government. Officials of Bolivia's leftist government have suggested in the past that some money is diverted to financing the opposition. United States officials deny that.
BERLIN.Militant Islamist group al Qaeda threatened Germany with attacks for the second time this weekend in an online video criticizing the country for its deployment of troops in Afghanistan, authorities said on Sunday. The interior ministry identified al Qaeda's messenger in the latest video as Bekkay Harrach, a German-Moroccan who also appeared in a separate clip on Friday warning Germany faced a "rude awakening" if it did not end its "war" in Afghanistan.
BANGKOK. Thailand's widely revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has been admitted to hospital with a fever, the royal household said yesterday. The 81-year-old king went to a Bangkok hospital Saturday night and is receiving an intravenous drip and antibiotics. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said "His Majesty's condition is not a problem".
