WORLD BRIEFS

POLAND: Nazi documents found near Auschwitz

Food coupons for some of the notorious Nazi doctors at the Auschwitz death camp, including perhaps the sadistic Dr. Joseph Mengele, have been found in the attic of a nearby house, where they had lain for decades. Also found were documents relating to the lives of Nazi officials, including death certificates. Some sugar coupons bear the names of Horst Fischer and Fritz Klein, who were executed for their crimes after the war, Adam Cyra, a historian at the Auschwitz memorial museum, said Monday. He said he believes a June 1943 coupon for sugar was assigned to Mengele.

NORTH KOREA: American to face trial

North Korea said Monday it will put an American on trial for entering the country illegally. The state-run Korean Central News Agency identified him as Aijalon Mahli Gomes, 30, of Boston. A spokeswoman for his family in Boston said Gomes had been teaching English in South Korea for two years. North Korea announced two months ago that an American had been detained Jan. 25 for trespassing.

CHINA: Sand still plaguing Beijing

Northern China's spring sandstorms blew in with particular ferocity over the weekend, bringing misery to those working outdoors Monday in Beijing and across a wide swath of the country. The storms are a product of worsening desertification in Inner Mongolia and other Gobi Desert regions caused by overgrazing, deforestation, drought and urban sprawl. Winds pick up the dust and dirt, mixing them with industrial pollution. Record pollution levels in Hong Kong, 1,240 miles to the south, were blamed partly on the storms.

QATAR: Ban on ivory sales upheld

Conservationists scored a rare victory at a UN wildlife meeting Monday in Doha when governments concerned it would further contribute to poaching voted to reject proposals by Tanzania and Zambia to weaken the 21-year-old ban on ivory sales.