■ United States
Neo-Nazis conduct march
A neo-Nazi march attracted hundreds of spectators and counter-protesters in Columbia, Missouri, and police used pepper spray to control the crowd. Seven spectators were arrested. About two dozen neo-Nazis marched on Saturday near the University of Missouri-Columbia campus, protesting what they said were the school's links to Marxism. Police escorted the marchers, who included several people wearing brown-shirted uniforms and carrying Nazi banners. Between 300 and 400 people gathered along the parade route, Columbia police Captain Zim Schwartze said. Police used pepper spray as marchers and spectators pressed toward each other, catching several bystanders and news photographers in the spray.
■ Dubai
Militants threaten hostages
A little-known Iraqi Islamist militant group said on Saturday it would kill two hostages, a German woman and her son, in 10 days if Berlin did not withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. The Arrows of Righteousness group posted a video on a Web site used by militant groups, including al-Qaeda, showing a weeping Hannelore Marianne Krause, 61, urging Germany to heed the militants' demands. "We give the German government 10 days from the date of this statement to announce and start the withdrawal of their troops from Afghanistan, otherwise ... they will not even see the bodies of these two agents," said a masked man, reading a statement on the video.
■ Canada
Greenhorn party sees surge
An unexpected surge in support for a greenhorn Quebec conservative party has turned the province's election into a three-way race with federalists and separatists, according to a new poll published on Saturday. Midway in the campaign, the rightist Action Democratique du Quebec climbed eight percentage points in public opinion over the past month, to 26 percent, said a CROP survey in the francophone daily La Presse. Meanwhile, support for Premier Jean Charest's federalist Liberal Party fell two notches to 33 percent last month.
RSS