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NORTH KOREA

Detained American back at labor camp

A U.S. citizen detained in North Korea for 15 months has been returned to a labor camp, prompting worries about his health, his sister said Friday.

Kenneth Bae, who led tour groups in North Korea, was arrested in late 2012 and sentenced to 15 years hard labor for unspecified hostile acts. Calls for his release on humanitarian grounds have gone unanswered. After he lost 50 pounds, he was moved last summer to a hospital from a prison work camp where he had been farming vegetables.

His sister, Terri Chung of Edmonds, Wash., said her family learned from the U.S. State Department on Friday that Bae was taken back to the labor camp on Jan. 20 - the same day Bae appeared before news reporters in Pyongyang, wearing a prison uniform stamped with the number 103. - AP
AFGHANISTAN

Taliban: Dog is OK

A military dog captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan two months ago is in good health and being fed a diet of kebabs, his captors say. The fate of the dog became the subject of widespread speculation after the Taliban posted an Internet video this week showing a Belgian Malinois. The Taliban said the dog belonged to U.S. forces, but British media reported that the dog belonged to British special forces.

- Los Angeles Times
TURKEY

Air hijacker foiled

A Ukrainian man tried to hijack a Turkey-bound flight to Sochi, Russia, as the Winter Olympics were kicking off Friday, but the pilot tricked him and landed in Istanbul instead, where he was detained after a standoff on a plane carrying 110 passengers. Officials credited the pilot and crew for convincing the 45-year-old-man, who claimed he had a bomb, that they were following his wishes. - AP

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