In the World

ROME - An Italian man with extreme right-wing views opened fire in an outdoor market in Florence on Tuesday, killing two vendors from Senegal, then critically wounded three other Senegalese immigrants in another Florence market before killing himself, authorities said.

Florence prosecutor Giuseppe Quattrocchi said the man shot himself in the head in an underground parking lot in the heart of the Tuscan capital as police approached him.

The attacker was identified as Gianluca Casseri, 50. RAI state TV said he was known to police for having participated in racist marches by an extreme right-wing group. It said he used a .357 Magnum revolver.

Italy's president, Giorgio Napolitano, decried what he called the "barbarous killing of two foreign workers" and denounced "this blind explosion of hatred."

- AP

OSLO, Norway - Roald Amundsen's feat of reaching the South Pole on skis 100 years ago is proving a tough act to follow for polar adventurers trying to get there in time to celebrate the centennial of the Norwegian pioneer's expedition.

Fierce winds delayed some teams skiing across Antarctica with the aim of reaching the South Pole for the anniversary celebration Wednesday.

Some explorers gave up and were picked up by airplane. Others, including Norwegian cross-country great Vegard Ulvang and adventurer Boerge Ousland, were still hoping to make it.

Steffen Dahl, a Norwegian adventurer who had to travel the final stretch by plane, said the temperature reached minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit. "I saw the sun twice in 14 days," he said. "It was like skiing inside a milk carton."

- AP

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Cambodia's U.N.-assisted tribunal on Tuesday ordered that a Khmer Rouge defendant, ruled earlier to be unfit to stand trial, will remain detained to see if her mental condition improves.

The highest chamber of the tribunal reversed a ruling by junior judges that would have freed Ieng Thirith, 79, whose doctors said has Alzheimer's disease. Prosecutors had appealed against her release.

The ruling comes during the second week of testimony in the trial of Thirith's three codefendants, who include her husband, ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary, in the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime. Ieng Thirith was social-affairs minister.

The tribunal is seeking justice for 1.7 million people who died of starvation, lack of medical care, or execution under Khmer Rouge rule.

- AP

A Russian-operated train arrived in Paris after a 37-hour cross-continental journey, inaugurating a line that directly connects Moscow, Berlin, and the French capital for the first time in nearly two decades. The train, operated by a subsidiary of the Russian railway company RZD, traveled 1,974 miles at speeds up to 124 m.p.h. It has a bar, a dining car, and eight sleeping cars.