A U.S. citizen who had been lured to Benin, in West Africa, by criminals he met online has been freed by security forces, Reuters reported.

"The kidnappers are in the hands of the police," said Frank Kinninvo, a spokesman from Benin’s interior ministry, according to Reuters. The American was found in the Mono region in the southwestern part of the country.

Officials, who did not identify the U.S. national, said he had traveled to Benin to meet people from there and Nigeria. He was abducted and forced to ask his family for a ransom payment, according to Reuters. The Reuters source said the kidnappers were not tied to pirates that operate in the region.

---

On Tuesday, the U.S. Embassy in Cotonou, Benin released a statement about the kidnapping.

“The U.S. Embassy in Cotonou has no reason to believe that other U.S. citizens or interests are at risk,” the statement said. “All U.S. citizens are encouraged to remain conscious of their personal security.”

Kidnappings of foreigners are rare in Benin, a French-speaking country of about 9 million people, although there have been several abductions in Nigeria this year.

Report: American kidnapped in Benin lured by contacts made on Internet

There have been several other cases in the last two years of foreigners who were kidnapped in West Africa after making contacts on the Internet.

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Spectators hoping to enjoy the London 2012 Olympic Games with a cool brew in hand will have to shell out the equivalent of about $11 for a pint of beer, according to organizers.

London Olympics organizers announced Wednesday they expected to serve 14 million meals during the games, calling it "the largest peace time catering operation in the world."

"We have gone to great lengths to find top quality, tasty food that celebrates the best of Britain," said Paul Deighton, chief executive of organizing committee LOCOG.

---

"We believe that our prices are more than comparable to those found at other major sporting events, which because of their temporary nature are often more expensive than the high street."

A bottle of water will cost 1.60 pounds ($2.50) and a bottle of Coke will sell for 2.30 pounds ($3.60). A plate of fish and chips will go for 8 pounds ($12.50).

Many were outraged by the prices, and particularly the cost of beer, British newspaper The Telegraph reported.

An 11-ounce bottle of Heineken lager will cost 4.20 pounds or $6.50, which makes the equivalent price of a pint 7.23 pounds or $11. That's more than double the national average price of 3.17 pounds for a pint of beer in the UK, The Telegraph said.

Organizers said food and drink for a family of four should run under 40 pounds ($62).

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Now safely in the U.S., Chinese lawyer and dissident Chen Guangcheng says he is still concerned about the family he left behind in China and suggested Thursday that his nephew is being tortured. 

Chen told an audience during a question-and-answer session at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York that since he left his village, local authorities have been retaliating against his family in a "frenzied way." 

Chen, who is blind, said that after he snuck away from de facto house arrest and fled to Beijing that about 30 hired “thugs” broke into his brother's house in the middle of the night and severely beat him and his son. His claimed his nephew is now isolated in a detention center for injuring the "thugs," who he said "had no choice but to take a kitchen knife and fight back.”

---

"His lawyer cannot meet with him and has no information,” Chen said through a translator. “I understand that keeping him isolated from his lawyer probably suggests he may be tortured and they're just trying to hide that fact by not letting him meet anyone."

 

Chen said that while in Beijing he raised concerns about his family repeatedly through various channels and with different representatives of the Chinese government and was told that the treatment that his family experienced at the hands of the local authorities in his home province would be investigated. He is still waiting for his government to keep their promise to him, he said in New York, where he arrived on May 19.

Unanswered questions
During the course of the Q&A, which was monitored over the phone by this reporter in Washington, D.C., Chen responded to some of the other unanswered questions about his daring escape.

One topic was whether or not he was aware that both U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner were coming to Beijing when he was planning his escape from house arrest. No, Chen said. "I didn't know there was a strategic dialogue going to happen because I had been cut off from communications with everyone. I was just isolated from the rest of the world. So, that was a total coincidence." 

Asked whether he knew the U.S. Embassy would provide him refuge, Chen said: “The U.S. holds itself up as embodying democracy and human rights values. What would it mean if they refused to take me in? I think you all can imagine that. I think on the surface it seems to be a diplomatic question, but the question is:  Do you try to save someone who is in danger of his life."

He said that being in the U.S. is an opportunity to give his body and mental health a much needed rest and that he is particularly interested in studying laws that protect the disabled. He is working on his English as well. "Everything I want to do takes time, but I want to work hard," he told the audience.

Despite his ordeal, he expressed optimism about the prospect of democracy in China, saying that "his lifetime" is perhaps too big of a time frame – suggesting change in China could come sooner.

But, he said, it is unlikely to be immediate. “Many people want to move the mountain in one week,” he said. “That’s not realistic. We have to move it bit by bit. You can’t expect it to happen overnight.”

Chen ended the program with an inspirational thought. "As I see it in this world, there is nothing that is impossible. If you want to do it, think of a way to do it. There's no such thing as a difficulty that cannot be overcome.” 

Click here to read the complete transcript of Chen Guangcheng's discussion at the Council of Foreign Relations 

 

 

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A bisexual porn actor and stripper is being hunted over the killing of a man in Canada and the mailing of his body parts to different places including the headquarters of the country’s Conservative Party, police said.

Luka Rocco Magnotta, 29, is wanted for homicide, Montreal police said late Wednesday at a news conference – amid reports a video of the killing had been posted on a website specializing in ‘gore’.

Reports on Thursday said Magnotta has previously been accused of torturing kittens and having a relationship with notorious Canadian sex killer Karla Homolka - although he strongly denied both.

---

Police on Thursday said he is believed to have fled North America.

Magnotta, believed to originally be from Toronto, was renting an apartment in a working-class Montreal neighborhood. It was behind that building that police found a man's torso in a suitcase in a heap of garbage Tuesday, police said. That same day, a foot was found in a package mailed to the Conservative party headquarters in Ottawa, and a hand found at postal warehouse in the Canadian capital. The package with the hand was addressed to the Liberal Party of Canada. Early testing shows the three body parts come from the same man, police said.

Police in masks combed through the blood-soaked Montreal studio apartment on Wednesday. A blood stained mattress remained there after they left.

"For most of the officers that were there all night long this is the kind of crime scene they've never seen in their career," Montreal Police Cmdr. Ian Lafreniere said.

The National Post newspaper reported that a 10-minute video posted on a website on May 25 appears to show Magnotta murdering, beheading and dismembering a young Asian man in an apartment. Police sources said the video — which is part of the ongoing investigation — appears to be authentic.

Magnotta’s own website contains rambling denials of internet rumors. The Star reported that Magnotta became the subject of a highly organized social media campaign in 2010 after he allegedly killed two kittens and posted a video of their deaths online.

The video, posted on YouTube and later taken down, showed a man torturing and killing two kittens after putting them in a plastic bag and using a vacuum to suffocate them.

The video sparked widespread outrage and prompted a massive online manhunt. The next day, a Facebook group devoted to determining the killer was formed.

Police said Magnotta is also known by the names Eric Clinton Newman and Vladimir Romanov. They described him as white, 5 feet 8 inches tall (1.78 meters) with blue eyes and black hair.

Police discovered the severed foot after Jenni Bryne, a top political adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, opened a bloodstained box at Conservative party headquarters Tuesday.

When Bryne opened the box, a foul odor overcame the office.

"It was such a horrible odor. I'm sure many of us will not forget it," Conservative Party spokesman Fred DeLorey said.

Police said the package was addressed to the Conservative Party of Canada and not to a specific person.

Canada Post wouldn't comment on the discoveries.

Eric Schorer, the manager of the building where the suspect lived, said Magnotta had been living there for about four months but hadn't been seen around in a while. He said there were never any complaints about noise in the unit, and that Magnotta passed a credit test to rent there.

"He seemed like a nice guy," Schorer said.

Richard Payette, who lived across the hall from Magnotta, said the door of Apartment 208 was left open for part of the day on Wednesday. Payette said there was an overwhelming smell drifting out into the hallway, like bad meat.

 "It's very upsetting," Opposition New Democrat member Yvon Godin said. "It could be just one crazy person that did it, but at the same time we have lots of people unhappy in our country, the way the country is going."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Updated at 10:30 a.m. ET: CAIRO -- Two American tourists kidnapped by Bedouin tribesmen in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula were released and on their way to a police station, officials told NBC News on Thursday. 

The tribesmen took the two men, both aged 31, on Wednesday in the Red Sea town of Dahab -- popular for diving and windsurfing. 

---

The two were kidnapped by members of the Tarabeen tribe in order to gain the freedom of a man from the tribe who was caught for drug possession, Bedouin and security sources told NBC News. 

Freed American: Egyptian kidnappers 'were very nice'

"We can confirm that there were two U.S. citizens kidnapped May 30 on the Sinai Peninsula and we are working closely with the Egyptian authorities to resolve the situation," a U.S. Embassy official told Reuters earlier without giving further details.

Several other tourists have been held briefly by tribesmen in recent months, but have been released unharmed. Two American women were held in a short-lived kidnapping in February until Egyptian authorities negotiated their release a few hours later.

Video: Egyptian election makes history

Bedouin tribesmen in the Sinai have also attacked police stations, blocked access to towns and taken hostages to show their discontent with what they see as poor treatment from Cairo and to press for the release of jailed kinsmen.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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VIENNA -- U.N. nuclear inspectors displayed new satellite imagery on Wednesday indicating that some small buildings had been dismantled and other possible clean-up work undertaken at an Iranian military site they want to visit.

One image from May 25 showed signs that "ground-scraping activities" had taken place at the Parchin facility, as well as the presence of a bulldozer, according to diplomats who attended a closed-door briefing by U.N. nuclear agency officials.

---

This will likely further strengthen Western suspicions that Iran is "sanitizing" the site of any incriminating evidence before allowing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) into the complex. "It is very clear," one Western envoy said.

Iran's IAEA envoy, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, dismissed such accusations by Western officials, telling reporters after the briefing that "this kind of noise and allegations are baseless".

Israel's Barak to NBC: Nuclear Iran unacceptable

The images released by the Institute for Science and International Security's (ISIS) could hurt a tentative deal between the U.N.'s atomic watchdog aimed at giving inspectors wide access to scientists, documents and facilities allegedly related to nuclear-weapons work, The Wall Street Journal reported. 

Wednesday's disclosure followed inconclusive talks between Iran and six world powers in Baghdad last week to address concerns about the nature of its nuclear activities, which Iran says are aimed at generating electricity.

The images were posted on ISIS's website hours after diplomats said the International Atomic Energy Agency showed what appeared to be similar imagery at a closed-door briefing in Vienna. 

The agency has been pressing Iran to allow inspectors to visit the Parchin military facility, which the IAEA thinks could have been involved in testing of high explosives, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Western envoys who attended Wednesday's briefing earlier told Reuters that two small side buildings at Parchin had been removed, and ISIS said its pictures from May 25 showed that they "have been completely razed."  

ISIS, which tracks Iran's nuclear program closely, said there were visible tracks in the images "made by heavy machinery used in the demolition process," adding that the two buildings had been intact in early April. 

The U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly asked Iran for access to Parchin as part of a long-stalled probe into suspicions that Tehran may be seeking the ability to assemble nuclear bombs, should it decide to do so. 

The Islamic state has so far refused to let inspectors visit the facility -- which it describes as a conventional military complex -- saying there must first be a broader framework agreement on how to address the IAEA's questions. 

Report: Iran using passenger jets to smuggle weapons to Syria, Lebanon

The Parchin complex is at the center of Western allegations that Iran has been conducting research and experiments that could serve a nuclear weapons development programme. The Islamic Republic has repeatedly denied any such ambition. 

Iran state TV: We'll build second nuclear plant

Last week, the IAEA said in a report issued to member states that satellite images showed "extensive activities" at the facility southeast of Tehran. 

Western diplomats said this was an allusion to suspected cleaning at Parchin. They have earlier cited other images showing recent activity at the site, including a stream of water, as suggesting Iran is trying to remove evidence. 

 

Iran, big powers agree to another round of nuclear talks

An IAEA report last November said Iran had built a large containment vessel in 2000 at Parchin in which to conduct tests that the U.N. agency said were "strong indicators of possible (nuclear) weapon development." 

It said a building was constructed around a large cylindrical object, a vessel designed to contain the detonation of up to 70 kg of high explosives. Diplomatic sources say the suspected tests likely took place about a decade ago. 

Last week, a senior Iranian official was quoted as saying the IAEA had not yet given good enough reasons to visit Parchin. 

Reuters contributed to this report.

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BEIJING - Hundreds of Tibetans in Lhasa have been detained by Chinese security officers after two self-immolation protests against Chinese rule over Tibet, according to U.S.-funded broadcaster, stoking concerns of spreading unrest among Tibetans in China.

Locals detained are being held in detention centers in and around Lhasa while many of those from outside the Tibet Autonomous Region have been expelled, Radio Free Asia said.

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On Sunday, two Tibetan men set themselves on fire in Lhasa, state news agency Xinhua said, the first time in four years of a major Tibetan protest against Chinese rule. One of the men died.

China has branded the self-immolators "terrorists" and criminals and has blamed exiled Tibetans and the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, for inciting them.

Protesters set themselves on fire near temple popular with tourists in Tibet capital

At least 35 Tibetans have set themselves on fire since March 2011 in protest against China's six-decade rule over Tibet, according to Tibetan rights groups. At least 27 have died.

Hao Peng, head of the Communist Party's Commission for Political and Legal Affairs in the Tibet Autonomous Region, has urged authorities to tighten their grip on the Internet and mobile text messaging, reflecting government fears about unrest during a month-long Buddhist festival which started last week.

The move is the latest in a series of measures the government says are intended to maintain stability.

Video: Are we seeing a Tibetan spring?

Beijing considers the Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule, a separatist. The Dalai Lama says he merely seeks greater autonomy for his Himalayan homeland. 

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Updated on June 1: Ireland's voters agreed to ratify the European Union's deficit-fighting treaty with a resounding 60.3 percent "yes" vote, The Associated Press reported. About half of Ireland's 3.13 million registered voters participated in the referendum.

Originally published on May 31: KILDARE, Ireland -- Families ripped apart, pay cuts, hundreds of thousands without work, homes lying empty, teenagers with little hope for the future: Many in Ireland have been brought to the brink of despair by a dramatic economic collapse and the harsh remedy prescribed by the European Union.

But unique among the EU's 27 members, Irish voters were Thursday giving their verdict on the policies of austerity as a backlash grows across the continent in countries like Greece, Spain and France. 

---

Both sides in the debate are playing the politics of fear. Ireland's coalition government and much of the establishment implore voters to agree to tight controls on the national debt -- contained in the "Fiscal Stability Treaty" -- warning that failing to do so would result in the EU refusing to provide any further bailout cash.

The "no" campaign counters this is just scaremongering -- saying Ireland would not be cut adrift in time of need -- but engage in some of their own. Austerity will only lead to countless more years of hardship, they say, calling for policies to grow the economy.

Polls put the "yes" campaign ahead, but both sides agree it will be close.

Outside control of Irish affairs is a sensitive subject. Some talk angrily of Ireland surrendering sovereignty hard-won in the War of Independence with the U.K. to new political masters in Europe.

Joe Kenny, 59, a former sergeant in the Irish army, is among those planning to vote no. "The country is on its knees ... austerity is not working," he told msnbc.com, as he stood in front of the abandoned barracks where he was once based in Kildare, about 30 miles west of Dublin.

He believes that the fiscal treaty will give too much control of Ireland's future to the EU's leading nations, particularly economic powerhouse Germany.

"They own us now. We've no control, no sovereignty, nothing," he said. "Angela Merkel [Germany's top lawmaker] ... put a little moustache on her and she's Hitler."

It is a comparison others have made, however unfairly, but Kenny has reason to be angry. "My son is going to have to emigrate ... All our best are going to Australia or America," he said.

Greek tragedy: Economic crisis sparks brain drain

His carpenter son Tony Kenny, 27, said business was "drying up," but was stoical about moving overseas, as generations of Irish have done before him.

"I suppose it has to be done, doesn't it?" said Kenny, who is married with two young daughters. "A few mates of mine are over in Perth [Western Australia]. The work is savage over there, they are booming. It would get me on my feet anyway."

Unemployment rate triples
Ireland's economy was once growing so fast it was dubbed the "Celtic Tiger." But the property bubble burst, the banks were thrown into crisis, the government got deep into debt spending billions to bail them out. Ordinary Irish people are now paying the price.

New taxes -- including a Universal Social Charge paid by all citizens -- have been brought in and more are on the way, such as a new charge on water.

According to the latest figures, the standardized unemployment rate was 14.3 percent -- about 430,000 people -- compared to just 4.5 percent in April 2007. Henry Healy, a distant cousin of Barack Obama, recently joined their ranks, according to a report on Tuesday.

Signs of the economic collapse are all around with boarded up buildings and half-finished neighborhoods, particularly in the Dublin commuter-belt, which includes County Kildare. 

The brick pillars at the entrance to the Coneyboro Estate in Athy, south of Kildare town, have a certain air of grandeur. But deeper into the neighborhood, it becomes clear something went badly wrong. Near-completed houses are empty, windows open, fireplaces ripped out. Weeds grow in the street and foundations lie unfinished.

Ghost towns tell the story of Ireland's faded dream

"Who wants to buy here? … These houses are worth nothing," said Athy town councillor Michael Dunne, the only elected Sinn Fein representative in County Kildare. "There's empty houses all over the place like this."

'Giving away our sovereignty'
It's a palpable sign, he said, that "we're all victims of the recession." The developer was bankrupt, the unemployed and those whose salaries had been cut could not afford a new house, and the taxpayer might have to step in to finish the estate.

"We cannot write austerity into our budget, that's going to be permanent, forever," Dunne warned. "As a Nationalist-minded person, a democratic socialist, I'm totally opposed to what's happening in the country and giving away our sovereignty to the Germans."

A "no" vote, he said, would "raise the flag for the rest of Europe to follow suit." 

According to Article 46 of the Irish Constitution, any amendments to it must be passed by both houses of the Oireachtas, or parliament, and then approved by a referendum. Thursday's vote is latest in a series about Ireland's relationship with the EU.

Greeks withdraw $894 million in one day

Another sign of the country's plight is the number choosing to make a new life in another country. In the year to April 2011, 76,400 people left Ireland, the highest number for at least 25 years and more than double the figure in 2006.

It is a hard decision. For Ruth Lalor, 18, the ties of home are strong.

"I would like to stay in Ireland. Australia … I know they've got a better life over there, but I really would find it hard leaving my friends and family," she told msnbc.com on Monday night from the sidelines of a Gaelic football match, pitting Kildare club Round Towers' second team against one from Castledermot.

She would like to study physiotherapy, but cannot afford it and is working in a clothes store, hoping she will be able to do take a course in five years' time.

Rising college fees
With Lalor was Nadine Lynch, 18, an English and history student who works as a waitress. Lynch plans to leave Ireland as soon as she's finished her degree or when rising college fees force her to drop out.

The pair have been friends since they were six and can hardly bear the thought of being parted. "She's coming in my bag with me," Lynch said. "I'm just living here day by day. I think about getting a degree and getting out of here, but if it gets better, obviously I'd like to come home."

Lalor, a talented Gaelic footballer, said she would probably not "bother" voting in the referendum, questioning whether it would "make a difference." Lynch said she was still making up her mind, but added "we fought for independence and now we're handing everything back to the EU."

There was no good news on the field to lift their spirits, with Round Towers losing. They were playing "a bit bad" Monday, Lalor said.

So much for the 'Spanish Dream': Euro crisis turns suburbs into ghost towns

Jim Waters, a former Round Towers player and owner of Southwell's Stores in Kildare's central square, is one person determined to stay exactly where he is.

The grocery and convenience store was opened in 1841 by Patrick Southwell, Waters' great-great grandfather.

'The 1980s were worse'
On Monday morning, Waters, 60, and his friends were playing a game of Gaelic football with an imaginary ball in the store and he was relatively unconcerned by all the gloomy talk.

Like most of the small business owners that msnbc.com spoke to in the town, he plans to vote "yes".

"Nothing lasts forever, this is my third [recession]. The 1980s were worse … after every recession there's a high."

While the recession would come to an end, the shop would not, he insisted. "I cannot foresee that happening. There's always going to be a need for a shop," Waters said. "The future is safe, oh God yes."

But, one of his suppliers, fellow "yes" voter and father-of-six John Leamy, 50, of nearby Newbridge, had a different tale to tell. "A lot of the businesses I was supplying are no longer there. My customer base has practically dried up," he said.

Once he delivered candy to up to 40 clients, now he has 10 to 15 and has taken a second job. He has a different view of the Germans than people like Joe Kenny."I have a liking for Germany and the work ethic. I can understand why they are trying to protect what they have," Leamy said. "The whole European project … wouldn't have worked without them."

He may be keeping his head above water, but others are struggling.

A different Ireland
Grace Coyle, 24, who lives in Naas, just up the road from Kildare town, spent a year travelling in Australia and the U.S. and returned home a very different Ireland in 2009.

She was without a job for about 18 months, and then joined a Tus work-training scheme; Tus is Gaelic for start. It pays only a little extra above welfare, but Coyle said it had helped her get a couple of days a week working as an administrator with a security firm. "You need work … There's only so many times you can clean the house," she said.

Others, Coyle added, are not so industrious. "My cousin is 19 and she's living out on her own. She doesn't have any get-up-and-go in her and I see that in her friends," she said. 

From the Irish Times: The treaty explained

But she doesn't want Europe to impose extra financial rigor on Ireland, and plans to vote "no" in the referendum. "We're abiding by everything they're asking for … I don't want it to be written into the constitution, into the law."

Her Tus supervisor, Adrian Brown, 50, knows what its like to be jobless. He had expected to work as a crane operator -- he spent eight years in New York City where he helped build Trump Tower -- until retiring. But on a cold Tuesday morning in Dublin in January 2009, Brown was called down from his crane and told the company had gone bust.

He was out of work for about 16 months -- "the time spent at home, it's not a healthy time" -- but then went back to college and then got his current job.

"There's a great sense of achievement … it's great to see lots of [people] taking their first step to getting back to work," he said.

Brown said he'd be voting "yes", but reluctantly. "We cannot bite the hand that feeds us."

'I'm just coping'
Staff at the County Kildare Leader Partnership, which overseas the Tus scheme, have had their pay cut by between 5 and 7.5 percent, in common with many in Ireland.

Geraldine Meaney, 48, secretary at Scoil Na Mainistreach, the school in Kildare town, said her pay had been reduced by 5 percent in January after a three-year pay freeze, while her husband's had been reduced by 10 percent. "I'm just coping, everybody pulls in the belt. You just cut your cloth to suit yourself."

Her 17-year-old son is in high school, but may decide to emigrate to the U.S.. Asked how she felt about that prospect, she replied, "Do you want to see a grown woman cry?"

It is a sadness felt by thousands. Kenny senior said he would be "absolutely gutted" if his son left for Australia.

"I know it's only a plane ride away, but it's the other side of the world. Why should he have to do that?"

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A military strike against Iran to prevent the country from becoming a nuclear power is still very much a possibility, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told NBC News' chief foreign correspondent, Richard Engel, on Wednesday.

"A nuclear Iran is unacceptable," he said a week after world powers met with Iranian representatives in Baghdad.

"No option should be removed from the table," Barak told Engel.

---

Barak did not specify what would trigger military action.

“We all hope it will be solved through sanctions or diplomacy, we will be happy to wake up one morning and see it is all over. … It probably won’t happen,” Barak said, calling international talks with Iran "a ritual of self-delusion."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday he did not expect talks next month with six world powers in Moscow to yield any major breakthroughs.

The six powers -- the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany -- failed to persuade Tehran on May 23 in Baghdad to halt its most sensitive nuclear work, but they will meet again in Moscow on June 18-19 to try to end the standoff.

The Baghdad meeting focused on foreign efforts to roll back Iran's enrichment of uranium to 20 percent fissile purity, a level approaching bomb grade.

Ahmadinejad reiterated Iran's "legal right" to enrich uranium to 20 percent and said other countries would have to explain why Iran was not allowed to do this and what they would offer Iran in exchange if it stopped enriching uranium.

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling for an end to Iran enriching uranium, said the original red line had been set at 3.5 percent enrichment -- sufficient to run civilian nuclear power stations -- but had been relaxed.

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A U.S. citizen kidnapped in Benin was lured to the West African country by criminals the American met online, sources told Reuters new agency Wednesday.

A kidnapping notice was first posted Tuesday on the U.S. Embassy in Cotonou’s website, but officials did not identify the victim.

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Embassy officials have "no reason to believe that other U.S. citizens or interests are at risk," said the post. "The investigation is ongoing, and there are no further details at this time."

A security source told Reuters the kidnap victim was a man who had traveled to the country last week to meet a group of people from Benin and neighboring Nigeria, Reuters reported. He was abducted and then forced to contact his family to ask for a ransom payment, the source in Benin said.

There were no apparent links to Islamist groups or pirates operating in the region, the source said.

Francine Ochabi, the press attachè for Benin's president, told The Associated Press she was not aware of the kidnapping and that the government had no comment.

An embassy spokeswoman declined to provide any further information.

Kidnappings of foreigners are rare in Benin, a French-speaking country of about 9 million people, but there have been several abductions in Nigeria this year.

A number of foreigners have been kidnapped in West Africa over the past two years after making contacts on the Internet.

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Why would super-secret spy software be written in a video game language?  As security researchers continue to unpack the digital mystery that is the Flame virus, that's just one question looming over perhaps the world's most intriguing digital whodunit.

With all the talk about Flame being the most powerful, ingenious and stealthy computer virus ever written, some properties of the mysterious malicious software are causing confusion.

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For one thing, the program takes up 20 megabytes of space on infected machines. That's not stealthy; large files usually indicate sloppy programming. Also, unlike Stuxnet, Flame didn't come with precision targeting, and hasn't yet been credited with doing anything as impressive as hacking nuclear power plant computers. But perhaps most mysterious of all: Part of Flame’s code was written in the Lua programming language, a simple language used almost exclusively by video game programmers.  Why would a nation-state trying to commit secret espionage toy with video game software?

"This is not a stealth operation," said Marcus Carey, who worked as a security analyst at the National Security Agency for eight years before joining the security firm Rapid7 in Boston.

News of the Flame virus hit Monday, as multiple computer security firms claimed the program represented a huge escalation in cyberwarfare. Moscow-based Kaspersky Labs, among the first to analyze the virus, called it the most powerful malicious program ever.

“The complexity and functionality of the newly discovered malicious program exceed those of all other cyber menaces known to date,” it said.

Flame reportedly comes loaded with lots of capabilities, such as remotely turning on victims' PC microphones, but it's hardly the first virus to accomplish that.  And unlike Stuxnet, it's yet clear that Flame used a series of so-called 0-day exploits --  vulnerabilities in software that are undiscovered by the security industry and for which there are no antidotes.  While initial reports immediately linked Stuxnet to Flame, primarily because they both seem to target Iran, skepticism is beginning to build that the two are directly linked.

That's partly because the two programs were written in very different ways. Flame’s authors used Lua, something that confuses observers.

"Lua in a spy tool is just ... weird," said one Israeli programmer who uses Lua and requested anonymity. "The little snippet I've seen of the code seems so ... ordinary ... really like the work of your average programmer.  Stuxnet sounded genius.”

Said another: "Lua is considered a kids language.... All I see around that is built with Lua are games. I mean, the syntax is very simple."

Not exactly the stuff of high-tech international espionage. Or is it?

Lua has been around since the 1980s, developed at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. It was created out of necessity; at the time, trade barriers made importing software development tools too expensive.  Development of Lua as a programming language remains centered in Brazil, where a small group of programmers make infrequent updates to the language.  But it's become a favorite platform for a few thousand devotees around the world, who are attracted to its simplicity, its ability to play well with other software and its tiny footprint, which makes it ideal for use on embedded devices or games, where memory and space are at a premium.

Unlike other programming languages that grow in size out of necessity over  time, Lua has actually shrunken in recent years, as developers have revised and refined its architecture.

Its name – Portuguese for “moon” – hints at Lua’s use as a subordinate language to attach satellite projects to larger pieces of software.

At the Lua-L discussion list, Flame talk was all the rage on Monday, as its users’ small corner of the technology world was suddenly thrust into the limelight. One even the virus "in some morbid way...an endorsement for Lua."

"I'm a bit perplexed about the alleged high sophistication of that malware, when I see unobfuscated Lua with self-descriptive names," added a poster identified as Enrico Colombini

But longtime Lua programmer Erik Hougaard, based in Denmark, said such opinions show a fundamental misunderstanding of Lua's simple elegance as a programming tool.

"It's a well-kept secret, but it's everywhere. It's hard to pick up an Xbox game without it," said Hougaard, who now uses Lua to program robots but has also used it to create from-scratch accounting software and other financial tools at EFoqus Danmark A/S.  "It's not sexy, but it's unique. It's so small you can fit it onto a single chip."

That's essential, because Lua includes both program and programming language in one tidy package -- meaning programs written in Lua will run reliably on machines as diverse as PCs and iPhones. 

"Lua is quite common in the mobile application space. If someone has Angry Birds installed on their iPhone, they are using Lua," said Carey, the security analyst. In fact, thousands of iPhone apps are written with Lua, he said.

Hackers have taken notice. While security firms have said they can't think of another computer virus before Flame that used Lua, it is a fundamental part of a favorite hacker tool called "NMAP." NMAP is used to scan the Internet for computers with potentially exploitable vulnerabilities; it’s the first tool used by hackers looking for trouble, and by security professionals looking to plug holes. NMAP permits use of a scripting language that runs under Lua so hackers can adjust the tool as needed.

"People have been using Lua to hack networks for a while, so this shouldn't surprise anyone," Carey said.  "Attackers are just using what works."

Lua first came to hackers' attention about two or three years ago, roughly when some analysts believe Flame was written, Carey said.

As with most information about Flame, Lua's appearance in the virus can be interpreted in two ways:

• Flame's writers may have been ahead of their time, using a unique programming language to create their cybermonster, and further confuse computer security professionals.
• Or, Flame's writers may have been video gamers and relative amateurs who didn't bother to do much to cover their tracks.

Symantec Corp. believes the use of Lua supports the former theory. It’s one of many security firms calling Flame one of the most powerful and complex virus ever written.

"Lua is scriptable, easy to understand, and easy to update. That said, it’s not used often," said Vikram Thakur, principal security manager at Symantec Security Response. "Anecdotally, we can’t think of another threat that is written in Lua..... The usage of the programming language is what makes the program, independent of the language, interesting."

But is it the work of genius, and a sign that cyberwar has escalated a new and dangerous level? Carey is not so sure.

"Saying this is the work of a nation-state is premature," he said. "This is not a particularly clever piece of malware or uber-elite." And despite the fact that it apparently operated in stealth for at least two years, many experts say it is too big to have been conceived as a spy tool.

"What's with the size?" said the anonymous Israeli Lua programmer. "It's like the trick they do in the movies of making a scene on the train/plane” to create a diversion while committing a crime. 

Colombini was even more direct in his assessment.

"I find it difficult to believe this to be the work of an intelligence service, at least of a decent one,” he said. “Obfuscating … the Lua code would have made analysis more difficult and above all slower. In the spying business gaining time has a very high value. … No self-respecting intelligence service (would have neglected to do that)."  

So far, most of the roughly 300 confirmed Flame infections have been in Middle Eastern countries that are natural enemies of Israel, including 189 in Iran, according to Kaspersky Lab.  

“If it weren't for the peculiar geographical distribution, (which is) the only thing that makes one think of politically charged malware, I'd think of a sort of malware construction kit,” designed to simply collect a large series of attack tools in one place, Colombini said.   

Given that the subject is covert cyberwar, confusion, half-truths and disinformation are the rule rather than the exception. Already, an unnamed U.S. official has told NBC News that the U.S. government is probably responsible for it; while Israeli officials have hinted that their side developed it.

Something else concerns Carey about the way that the Flame narrative has progressed so far.  Much of what we know about Flame has come directly from Iran's Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center.

 "Generally, we don't believe anything Iran says. Here, we seem to be believing everything they say," he said. "But this incident reinforces a storyline for Iran playing the victim."

Symantec, and many other security organizations, have said the sheer size of Flame is making thorough analysis of the virus a slog. Early reports on the malicious program all came with warnings that findings were preliminary.  Symantec expects to issue a follow-up later this week.

JOHANNESBURG -  Former South African President Nelson Mandela made a rare public appearance Wednesday when the African National Congress party brought its centenary celebrations to his home village.

The 93-year-old, who will celebrate his birthday next month, arrived in Qunu in rural eastern South Africa on Tuesday from Johannesburg.

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Mandela letters go online in Google-backed project

The ANC is celebrating its 100th anniversary by touring a torch around the country, presenting it to party members and public figures. Mandela ran the party, which has been ruling post-apartheid South Africa since 1996.

Mandela, 93, leaves hospital after minor surgery

Although he did not speak, Mandela posed for photographs with the torch during the 45 minute ceremony.

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BEIJING – A stray dog has become China’s newest celebrity after latching onto a group of cyclists and traveling more than 1,100 miles over at least 12 mountains, some as high as 13,000 feet, in China’s southwestern Tibetan Plateau.

The homeless dog, nicknamed Xiao Sa, finished her 24-day journey from China’s Sichuan Province to Lhasa, Tibet on May 24.

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“At first we didn’t think about adopting her at all,” said 22-year-old cyclist and college student Xiao Yong in an interview with China Central TV. “But we were shocked by her perseverance. She followed us [from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province] to Litang [a town in Sichuan province with a 2.6 mile altitude]. We then decided to make a cage for her when we had a steep road going downhill.”

The long march began with a chicken leg Xiao Yong tossed to the puppy when he started his bike ride in early May. The little mutt followed the cyclist team after that and became part of the cycling group.

They came up with the nickname “Xiao Sa” by combining the term “xiao,” which means “little,” with the last syllable of Lhasa, the administrative capital of Tibet and the cyclists final destination.

“She once ran 37 miles in one day, going uphill. We were very impressed by Xiao Sa’s persistence, that inspired us all the way till our destination, the Potala Palace [in Lhasa, Tibet],” said Xiao Yong. “I’ll take Xiao Sa back home. I think she’s taking me as her owner now.”

Lu Bo, another team member, said the little white fur-ball was an inspiration to the whole team. The dog “made us so happy. Once a few of our team members lagged behind, she ran from hill top to the bottom, to bring these guys to the rest of the team. She injected power into us,” said Lu. 

She is now with her new owner, Xiao Yong, in Wuhan, capital city of the southern Hubei province.

And like a true celebrity, Xiao Sa has even opened her own Weibo account, China’s most popular Twitter-like service. It is called “GoGoXiaoSa,” where fans can check out her latest photos and whereabouts. And she already has over 82,000 followers.

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VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI broke his silence Wednesday over the leaked documents scandal that has convulsed the Vatican, saying he was saddened by the betrayal but grateful to those aides who work faithfully and in silence to help him do his job.

Benedict made his first direct comments on the scandal in off-the-cuff remarks at the end of his weekly general audience. He lashed out at some of the media reports about the scandal, saying the "exaggerated" and "gratuitous" rumors had offered a false image of the Holy See.

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The Italian media have been in a frenzy ever since the pope's butler, Paolo Gabriele, was arrested last week after Vatican investigators discovered papal documents in his Vatican City apartment. He remains in detention and has pledged to cooperate fully with the investigation.

Rumors have been flying in the Italian press about possible cardinals implicated in the probe, pending resignations and details of the investigation that even Gabriele's lawyers say they haven't heard. The Vatican spokesman has spent much of his daily briefings in recent days shooting down the various reports.

The scandal represents one of the greatest breaches of trust and security for the Holy See in recent memory given that a significant number of documents from the pope's own desk were leaked to an investigative journalist. The Vatican has denounced the leaks as criminal and immoral and has opened a three-pronged investigation to get to the bottom of who was responsible.

'Spirit of sacrifice'
"The events of recent days about the Curia and my collaborators have brought sadness in my heart," Benedict said at the end of his audience. But he added: "I want to renew my trust in and encouragement of my closest collaborators and all those who every day, with loyalty and a spirit of sacrifice and in silence, help me fulfill my ministry."

Few people think Gabriele worked alone, and his promise to cooperate with the investigation has fueled speculation that other might be arrested soon.

The motivations for the leaks remain unclear: Some commentators say they appear designed to discredit Benedict's No. 2, the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. Others say they're aimed at undermining the Vatican's efforts to become more financially transparent. Still others say they aim to show the 85-year-old Benedict's weakness in running the church.

Gabriele is an employee of the Holy See, a citizen and resident of the Vatican city state. He is being held by Vatican police who have accused him of stealing the pope's personal papers.

The scandal broke in January when Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi revealed letters from a former top Vatican administrator who begged the pope not to transfer him for having exposed alleged corruption that cost the Holy See millions of euros (dollars) in higher contract prices. The prelate, Monsignor Carlo Maria Vigano, is now the Vatican's U.S. ambassador.

Documents leaked to journalists over several months allege corruption in the Church's vast financial dealings with Italian business including infrastructure contracts awarded at inflated prices.

In one example, the Vatican was said to have paid $550,000 for a traditional nativity scene in St Peter's Square, thought to be at least double its real value. 

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MAHACHAI, Thailand – They packed onto the steps of a local shrimp market straining for a glimpse of the woman they call “Mother Suu.” Some stood precariously on top of piles of shrimp baskets, waving photographs of Myanmar's opposition leader.

Her arrival was announced by the flashing lights and wailing sirens of her police escort. As her car entered the narrow lanes around the market it was mobbed by photographers and ecstatic supporters, soon slowing to a crawl. 

Others crowded onto rooftops and balconies of the surrounding, rundown buildings, which were mostly migrant workers' dormitories.

This was the beginning of Aung San Suu Kyi's first full day in Thailand, her first overseas trip in 24 years.  And she had chosen to visit Mahachai, south of Bangkok, which has the largest population of Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand.

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Here they mostly work in fisheries, but across Thailand, Myanmar migrant workers – some 2 to 3 million of them, legal and illegal – dominate the low-paid dirty jobs that Thais prefer not to do.

Together with a large refugee and exile community, they are a symbol of the impoverishment and repression of their homeland. 

Message: hope
Thousands turned out to see Suu Kyi today, and she offered them hope. 

"Don't feel down or weak. History is always changing," she said in a brief speech from a balcony during a second stop.  Several people we spoke to said they hoped Suu Kyi could improve life in Myanmar so they could return home. 

We met Yin Noi, a domestic worker, waving a sketch she had made of Suu Kyi. She had been waiting to catch a glimpse of her since 5 a.m. "I am so excited," she said.

Suu Kyi arrived in Thailand Tuesday evening. Even during her brief periods of freedom in Myanmar she's been reluctant to leave the country, fearing the ruling generals would not let her back in again, even when her husband was dying in the U.K. 

She will be attending a regional economic summit in the Thai capital, giving a speech there Friday and meeting several heads of state. She seems certain to steal the show, much to the discomfort of Myanmar's President Thein Sein, who started the reforms that led to Suu Kyi’s new found freedom. He was invited too, but cancelled, not wanting to be upstaged.

Still, her decision to travel now is a mark of confidence in the reform process, which has not only seen her release from house arrest, but also the release of political prisoners, media reforms and open elections, in which Suu Kyi herself won a seat in parliament.

Thai officials are pleased that Suu Kyi has chosen their country for her first overseas visit, but say they've been kept in the dark about her plans, which include a weekend visit to a refugee camp on the Thai-Myanmar border.

"We'll have to play it play it by ear, I guess," one Thai official told the New York Times. 

Mega political celebrity
Next month Suu Kyi heads to Europe. She'll visit Norway for some unfinished business – picking up her 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, and will address the British parliament. 

She's also considering visiting Ireland to meet Bono, the Irish rock musician who campaigned for her release.

That will certainly seal her status as a mega political celebrity. It may also irritate some of the still powerful conservative generals at home, and even some of her supporters, who will hope she doesn't lose sight of desperate plight of so many of her compatriots – so starkly on display amid the shabby fish markets of Mahachai.

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The Polish government expressed dismay on Wednesday after President Barack Obama referred to a World War II concentration camp as a “Polish death camp.”

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said it was a comment that Poland could not ignore. "We cannot accept such words even if they are spoken by the leader of a friendly power - or perhaps especially in such situations - since we expect diligence, care, and respect from our friends on issues of such importance as World War II remembrance."

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Obama made the comment Tuesday while awarding the Medal of Freedom to Jan Karski, a resistance fighter against the Nazi occupation of Poland during World War II. Karski died in 2000.

During an East Room ceremony honoring 13 Medal of Freedom recipients, Obama said that Karski "served as a courier for the Polish resistance during the darkest days of World War II. Before one trip across enemy lines, resistance fighters told him that Jews were being murdered on a massive scale and smuggled him into the Warsaw Ghetto and a Polish death camp to see for himself. Jan took that information to President Franklin Roosevelt, giving one of the first accounts of the Holocaust and imploring to the world to take action."

The Associated Press reported that Obama's remark drew swift complaints from Poles who said Obama should have called it a "German death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland," to distinguish the perpetrators from the location. Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski called it a matter of "ignorance and incompetence."

Alex Storozynski, president of the Kosciuszko Foundation, said Obama's comment "shocked the Poles present at the White House and those watching on C-SPAN. ... Karski would have cringed if he heard this."

National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said: "The president misspoke. He was referring to Nazi death camps in Poland. We regret this misstatement, which should not detract from the clear intention to honor Mr. Karski and those brave citizens who stood on the side of human dignity in the face of tyranny."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

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A 65-year-old woman was pulled out alive after lying for 12 hours in the rubble of her kitchen in an Italian town hit by Tuesday's deadly earthquake. 

Firefighters told Sky TG24 TV that a piece of furniture, which had toppled over during the 5.8 magnitude quake that left 16 dead and 14,000 people homeless in the Emilia Romagna region north of Bologna, saved the woman from being crushed by the wreckage. She was taken to a hospital for treatment Wednesday.

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The building in the town of Cavezzo had been damaged in a first quake, on May 20, and had been vacant since. The woman had just gone back inside it Tuesday morning to retrieve some clothes when the latest temblor knocked down the building, firefighters said. 

By late Tuesday, the death toll throughout the region stood at 16, with one person missing: a worker at the machinery factory in the small town of San Felice Sul Panaro. Some 350 people also were injured.

Originally government officials had put the death toll at 17, and there was no immediate explanation for the lowered toll.

Factories, barns and churches fell, dealing a second blow to a region where thousands remained homeless from the May 20 temblor, much stronger in intensity, at 6.0 magnitude.

At least 16 die as 5.8-magnitude earthquake hits Italy

The two quakes struck one of the most productive regions in Italy at a particularly crucial moment, as the country faces enormous pressure to grow its economy to stave off the continent's debt crisis. Italy's economic growth has been stagnant for at least a decade, and the national economy is forecast to contract by 1.2 percent this year.

 The area encompassing the cities of Modena, Mantua and Bologna is prized for its super car production, churning out Ferraris, Maseratis and Lamborghinis; its world-famous Parmesan cheese, and less well-known but critical to the economy: machinery companies.

 After the second earthquake, Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti pledged that the government would do everything possible to restore normal life to the area, which he said was "so important, so productive for Italy," the BBC reported.

Government troops had been deployed to the quake-struck areas, and a cabinet meeting would planned for later on Wednesday, according to the BBC. 

The country's main business association warned on Wednesday that the earthquakes would have a prolonged impact on the region.

"The earthquakes in May, which had very serious effects on people's lives, will also have prolonged consequences for some of the most important industrial regions in Italy and for an area with strong manufacturing activity," business lobby Confindustria said in an economic report.

"This can only worsen an already very difficult situation," it said. 

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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