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Armed man arrested before pope appears

 
Published June 21, 1993|Updated Oct. 9, 2005

A man armed with a knife _ reportedly wrapped in a newspaper containing articles about attacks on Pope John Paul II _ was hustled off the street Sunday moments before the pope passed by, police said. The 33-year-old man, a Pole, was taken to a police station where his identify papers were checked, police said. They said his papers were in order and the man was released, though without the 12-inch knife. Police said the man did not threaten the pope. The ANSA news agency identified him as Jan Bulka, a resident of Italy since 1990. The pope traveled through Foligno in his bulletproof "popemobile" during a weekend visit to towns in central Italy.

Train tries out English Channel tunnel

LONDON _ The high-speed rail link between London and Paris took a symbolic step forward Sunday when a test train passed slowly through the Channel Tunnel from France to England. The seven-coach train, about half the size of those that will run on the service, took two hours for the journey from Calais, France, to Folkestone, England. That leg of the Paris-London journey should take less than half an hour when passenger service begins at an unspecified date next year.

Cambodia parties agree to share military

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia _ Cambodia's two main political groups will share control over the military and police in an interim government, officials said Sunday. The newly elected members of Cambodia's constituent assembly have until August to draw up a constitution before forming a permanent government. Last week, the FUNCINPEC party, which placed first in the elections, and the ruling Cambodian People's Party, which placed second, agreed to share power temporarily.

Palestinians to train for West Bank force

AMMAN, Jordan _ Twenty-eight Palestinians who will form the core of a potential police force in the Israeli-occupied territories arrived in Jordan on Sunday to train for four months as police officers, a Palestinian official said. Hundreds of Arabs working for a West Bank police force resigned after the 1987 start of the uprising against Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. The idea of forming an independent police force for the 1.8-million Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip was suggested by Israel during the ninth round of talks in Washington in May.

Major: Dishonest donation will be returned

COPENHAGEN, Denmark _ British Prime Minister John Major said Sunday that money dishonestly donated to his Conservative Party would be returned after his government faced more pressure over links with fugitive businessman Asil Nadir. The Sunday Times said it had evidence that Nadir, who jumped bail and fled to his native Cyprus last month while facing charges of theft and false accounting, gave the party $660,000 taken from Polly Peck International, his conglomerate that collapsed in 1990.