Dutch student denies involvement in Holloway disappearance

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Dutch student Joran van der Sloot said in a television interview Friday that he was lying when he told someone privately he was involved in Natalee Holloway's disappearance.

The statement came hours after Aruban prosecutors announced they were reopening their investigation into the disappearance of the Alabama teenager after seeing secretly taped material from a Dutch journalist.

Van der Sloot was interviewed by telephone by the respected Dutch television show "Pauw & Witteman" following reports that crime reporter Peter R. De Vries had captured him in an apparent confession.

"It is true I told someone. Everybody will see it Sunday," said Van der Sloot, who has previously been interviewed by the program and whose voice was readily recognizable. De Vries claims to have solved the mystery of Holloway's May 2005 disappearance with the help of an undercover investigation.

"That is what he wanted to hear, so I told him what he wanted to hear," Van der Sloot said, adding that he had built up a relationship with the man he spoke to, but had never fully trusted him. He did not identify the man.

"It is so stupid, it is so stupid, it is really stupid," Van der Sloot said, his voice cracking.

Top Colombian drug lord slain in Venezuela

CARACAS, Venezuela -- One of Colombia's most-wanted drug lords has been found slain in Venezuela, a top counter-drug official said Friday.

Fingerprints of the man found shot to death in the Venezuelan city of Merida on Wednesday matched those of Wilber Varela, said Col. Nestor Reverol, head of the National Anti-Drug Agency.

Varela, alias "Jabon," or "Soap," led a war with rival traffickers that killed more than 1,000 people in recent years, and the underworld is awash with tales of brutality that made him a household name in Colombia.

"Wilber Varela in the last few years was truly the main leader of Colombian drug-trafficking organizations," Colombian police chief Gen. Oscar Naranjo said in Bogota. He noted that Varela, a former police officer, had entered the drug underworld as a hired killer.

Varela had a private army along the western coast of Colombia that protected cocaine routes and eliminated rivals. His war with a rival in the Norte del Valle cartel, Diego Montoya, plagued the city of Cali and much of southwestern Colombia with violence.

Varela was indicted in U.S. federal courts on drug trafficking charges in 2004, and the State Department offered a reward of up to $5 million for his capture.

Kenya's rival sides agree to halt violence

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Kenya's rival sides said Friday they had agreed to take action to end monthlong violence from a disputed presidential election, but the death toll mounted when police fired on mobs setting homes and businesses ablaze in the west of the country.

Kofi Annan, the former U.N. secretary-general who is mediating, said the sides had agreed to tackle within a week the most pressing issues -- including resolving the immediate political crisis. Both sides called for illegal militias to be disbanded and for the investigation of all crimes connected to the violence, including alleged excessive force by police.

"The first (step) is to take immediate action to stop the violence and restore fundamental liberties," Annan said.

A document signed by both sides said an agreement might require "adjustments" to the constitution -- suggesting a power-sharing arrangement that would give opposition leader Raila Odinga a new position of prime minister. The two sides had come under international pressure to reach such a deal.

Hundreds protest Egypt's efforts to close Gaza border breach

RAFAH, Gaza Strip -- Hamas militants on Friday hauled away metal spikes that Egyptian soldiers had placed at sections of the Gaza-Egypt border, defying attempts to reseal the frontier and stop the influx of blockade-weary Gazans.

Ever since Hamas-allied militants toppled the border wall Jan. 23 with a series of explosions, Hamas militants have stopped several attempts by Egypt to reseal the frontier. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have rushed into Egypt, shopping and visiting relatives, but most have returned to Gaza.

It remains unclear whether Gaza's Hamas rulers will use force to keep the border open. They want a role in running the border with Egypt, a demand rejected this week by Egypt and Hamas's rival, moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Hamas prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, said he would not allow the border to be resealed.