In the World

KAMPALA, Uganda - The British police have warned two outspoken Rwandan dissidents in London that their lives are in danger because the Rwandan government may be plotting to kill them, according to British officials.

In letters dated May 12, the Metropolitan Police warned the dissidents that the threat on their lives "could come in any form" and that "unconventional means" had been used before.

"Reliable intelligence states that the Rwandan government poses an imminent threat to your life," the warning letters read. British officials confirmed the documents' authenticity Thursday.

Human-rights groups have increasingly criticized the Rwandan government as being repressive and intolerant of any dissent, and several dissidents living abroad have been mysteriously killed. - AP

ROME - Police said Thursday that they had rescued about 500 migrants from Libya after a small fire broke out on their boat miles off the Italian coast.

Police patrol boats spotted the boat and were escorting it toward the small island of Lampedusa when the fire began, Maj. Fabrizio Pisanelli said. The migrants were moved onto the Italian patrol boats and taken to the island.

The group of sub-Saharan Africans included 36 women and nine children. Another boat carrying 208 migrants arrived in Lampedusa the night between Wednesday and Thursday, Pisanelli said.

Hundreds of would-be migrants have died since the exodus from Libya began earlier this year, including 250 who drowned off the Italian coast last month. - AP

DUBLIN - A beaming Queen Elizabeth II received a five-minute standing ovation from a Dublin crowd Thursday evening after hosting a British and Irish fashion show and musical performances on her final night in the Irish capital.

It was the first time the Irish public had a chance to express their views about her landmark four-day state visit - the first of a British monarch to the Republic of Ireland - and the queen seemed surprised by the warmth of the 2,000 guests in Dublin.

She waved at the crowd at the end of the gala, which marked her final appearance in Dublin before moving on to Cashel and Cork on Friday.

The upbeat mood reflected a positive response to the queen's attempt to put tense relations between the two nations in the past with a series of symbolic events and a strong speech expressing sympathy for those who had suffered during the deadly conflicts between Britain and Ireland.

- N.Y. Times News Service

An Al-Jazeera journalist held in Syria and later Iran is back with her family in Canada, after being released from custody. Dorothy Parvaz landed Thursday at Vancouver International Airport. She vanished nearly three weeks ago after arriving in Syria from Qatar on April 29 to cover protests. Syria said she was deported to Iran, where she holds citizenship, shortly after her arrival. Parvaz was freed from Iran on Wednesday.