World

To date, coalition forces haven't foiled the Iraqi military's ability to communicate with its units in the field, US Gen. Tommy Franks said in his Monday news briefing. But he said intelligence showed that "many orders given by this regime have not been obeyed ... by subordinates." He spoke on a day in which Saddam Hussein reappeared on Iraqi TV, proclaiming coalition forces were trapped and that "victory is coming." Meanwhile, US spokesmen acknowledged losing an attack helicopter about 90 miles south of Baghdad and said American ground troops had arrived in northern Iraq - by means that they would not reveal.

In related developments:

• Special US envoys returned to Turkey for urgent consultations after new Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Army chief met to consider sending troops into northern Iraq. They appeared to contradict Turkey's claim that a deal on the issue had been reached. NATO, the European Union, and local Kurdish groups also oppose a Turkish incursion.

• The Philippines joined the list of nations expelling Iraqi diplomats at the request of the US. But King Abdullah of Jordan, which took the action Sunday, said he'd accept "a replacement" from Hussein's regime.

Girls as young as 2 were among 24 minority Hindus shot to death, execution-style, in a mostly Muslim area of disputed Kashmir. Survivors of the raid Sunday night in a remote village blamed it on Muslim militants dressed in Indian Army uniforms - a tactic used in previous such incidents. The raid was expected to worsen tense relations between India and Pakistan, although the latter's foreign ministry condemned it.

"The figures surpass all expectations," Russian President Vladimir Putin said, after Sunday's constitutional referendum in Chechnya produced a 95 percent vote in favor of cementing ties with the Kremlin. A Putin aide said the outcome "dropped from the agenda" the possibility of future contacts with the region's elected separatist leaders. But analysts doubted the vote would bring an early end to violence between separatist rebels and Russian forces.

By comfortable margins, voters in Slovenia OK'd membership for their small former Yugoslav republic in both the European Union and NATO. The latter outcome had been regarded as uncertain, but 66 percent of those going to the polls said "yes," perhaps influenced by the assassination earlier this month in neighboring Serbia of pro-Western Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic. Joining the EU was approved by 89.6 percent.

At least 150 people died when a heavily overloaded ferry in which they were riding capsized and sank in Lake Tanganyika off the central African nation of Burundi. Rescuers saved 41 others. The vessel had a capacity of fewer than 100 people.