Swedish firefighters race through town in underwear

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- When three Swedish firefighters raced to their fire truck, it wasn't because something was burning -- except their red faces, as they were wearing nothing but underwear.

The three men from Gavle, in central Sweden, had stopped by a local swimming pool for a dip. When they returned to the pool locker room, they discovered that someone had made off with their uniforms, their commander, Thomas Fahlstedt, said Thursday.

"Everything was gone except for the underpants and the shoes," Fahlstedt said. "They had to drive back in the fire engine wearing only those."

Fire officials reported Wednesday's theft to police, who promptly sent two officers -- both female -- to investigate.

Swedish news organizations reported the two officers were amused by the firemen's predicament. But they took the report seriously, arresting a man with a bag full of firefighters' gear, and returning the gear to the station.

The motive for the theft was not known.

"People stared a bit," one of the firefighters, Posa Serenius, was quoted by the Expressen newspaper as saying. "But I guess it went well."

US, Colombia choked rebels' communication

BOGOTA, Colombia -- The stunning rescue of Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. military contractors owed its success not just to artful deception, but also to a five-year U.S.-Colombian operation that choked their captors' ability to communicate.

Known as "Alliance," it began with a satellite phone call in 2003, just weeks after the Americans' surveillance plane crashed in the southern Colombian jungle, according to U.S. and Colombian investigators and court documents.

The call came from Nancy Conde, the regional finance and supply chief for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, whose boyfriend would become the American hostages' jailer. She was calling confederates in Miami to see if they could supply the rebels with some satellite phones.

What Conde didn't know was that state security agents were listening.

U.S. law officers arrested the Miami contacts, who in exchange for promises of reduced sentences put Conde in touch with an FBI front company, according to a U.S. law enforcement official involved in the investigation, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

Over more than four years, that company provided wiretapped satphones and other compromised telecommunications equipment that threw the rebels off balance and eventually helped authorities strangle their supply lines.

The operation laid crucial groundwork for the brazen July 2 commando rescue of 15 hostages held by a rebel unit that Conde supplied, the biggest blow ever dealt to the FARC.

Rice says US will defend Gulf; Iran tests missiles

WASHINGTON -- Condoleezza Rice flexed America's muscles in the Middle East Thursday, forcefully warning Iran the U.S. won't ignore threats and will take any action necessary to defend friends and interests in the Persian Gulf.

A fresh Iranian missile test prompted a show of force from Israel as well.

Rice said Iran's leaders should understand that Washington won't dismiss provocations from Tehran and has the ability to counter them. "I don't think the Iranians are too confused, either, about the capability and the power of the United States to do exactly that," she said.

Though the White House has repeatedly asserted it prefers diplomacy to war, Rice used some of the administration's most direct language yet to make clear the U.S. is strengthening its military presence to counter Iran in the strategic Gulf region and is prepared to use force. She also referred to U.S. arms sales to Gulf allies and military aid to Israel as protections against any threat from Iran.

"We take very, very strongly our obligation to help our allies defend themselves, and no one should be confused about that," Rice said in Tbilisi, Georgia, before returning to Washington from a trip to Eastern Europe.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, noted Iranian testing of a longer-range missile, representing a "capability that raises the ante in the long run in that part of the world."

Asked on a trip to Afghanistan whether the U. S. had strengthened its position, he said, "We have a very robust presence in that part of the world, have had for some time, and we're robust enough to be able to adjust constantly, which is what we do, and we also try not to be very predictive about where we go and when we go and what we do there."

Fugitive attacker captured in Turkey

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Turkish authorities captured a gunman Thursday wanted in the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate after rounding up suspects who had communicated with three other assailants killed by police, local media reports said.

Officials were investigating whether the attackers were linked to al-Qaida. Police suspect the four gunmen had ties to the terrorist network but said that so far they had no proof of that link.

Wednesday's attack on the consulate in Istanbul ignited a firefight that killed three policemen and three assailants and prompted Turkey to increase security at all U.S. diplomatic missions in the country.

The private Dogan news agency reported that the fourth gunman, who fled after the attack, was caught after his getaway car was found Thursday and was being interrogated. A police officer in Istanbul confirmed the report but would not give details. He refused to give his name because Turkish law bars civil servants from speaking to journalists without authorization.