World

Support among Palestinians for terrorism against Israel is at its lowest level since the intifada began more than three years ago, results of a new poll showed. A West Bank research group, the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion, said only 35 percent of respondents favor continuing violence, compared to 73 percent in November 2000, as the campaign was beginning. A spokesman said respondents cited the economic hardships the intifada has brought them and confusion about what else it has accomplished.

"Neighborhood committees" were forming across Haiti to assist antigovernment protesters as President Jean-Bertrand Aristide confronted the most serious challenge of his career. He vowed to regain control of Gonaives, the port city of Saint Marc, and at least six other communities, but it was unclear when police would attempt to return after being driven out over the weekend. At least 46 people were reported killed in rioting, police stations and other symbols of authority were destroyed, an estimated 100 prisoners were freed from jails, and looting was unchecked.

An hour after being opened, an official murder inquiry in Russia was dropped by authorities, deepening the mystery surrounding the disappearance of a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin. Police and friends of Ivan Rybkin, himself a candidate in the March 14 election, said they had no leads on where he might be since failing to appear at a news conference Friday. He wasn't projected to do well at the polls, but was expected to wage an aggressive campaign targeting Putin.

A suspected case of bird flu was reported less than 80 miles from China's capital as heath authorities stepped up testing of live chickens to 1,000 a day. The number of provinces in China with confirmed or suspected outbreaks of the virus neared the halfway point - 15 - and police were preventing all open transport of chickens into Beijing. Meanwhile, a 14th person died of the disease in Vietnam, the hardest-hit country. In Thailand, where five people have died, authorities said the first wave of infections appeared to have waned but they were preparing for a second.

For the second day in a row, rescuers found a resident alive in the rubble of an 11-story apartment building that collapsed without warning Feb. 2 in central Turkey. The survivor, a young mother, had been caught as she tried to follow her husband and child to safety outside. But the number of deaths in the collapse rose to 85.