WORLD BRIEFS

LEBANON: Ahmadinejad's anti-Israel rant

Iran's president taunted Israel on Thursday from just across the tense border, rallying tens of thousands of Lebanese Hezbollah supporters as Israeli attack helicopters buzzed in the skies nearby. "The world should know that the Zionists will perish," declared Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, echoing previous verbal attacks in which he has said Israel should be wiped off the map. The fiery speech was delivered in Bint Jbeil, nearly destroyed by Israeli bombs in the 2006 war with Hezbollah and rebuilt with the help of Iranian cash.

ITALY: Colosseum dungeons to open

Visitors to the Colosseum next week will for the first time view some of its underground chambers, where gladiators prepared for battle and lions were caged, officials said Thursday in Rome. The opening of the underground dens and passageways, known as the hypogeum, comes after careful restoration. Above ground, meanwhile, tourists will also be able to visit the ancient arena's third upper tier, closed since the 1970s.

SWITZERLAND: Longest tunnel nearly ready

A massive drilling machine called Sissi is about to chew through the last few inches of rock in the way of the world's longest tunnel. The expected completion Friday of the 35.4-mile Gotthard Base rail tunnel is being hailed as an environmental triumph and an engineering feat. The $10-billion tube bores through the Gotthard massif, including the 8,200-foot Piz Vatgira, along the route to Italy. It's part of a project to shift the haulage of goods from roads to rails, spurred by a concern that heavy trucks were destroying the Alpine landscape.

HUNGARY: Aluminum plant to reopen

The aluminum plant behind the toxic waste spill is to resume production Friday, the government announced. Caustic red slurry spilled Oct. 4 from a reservoir of industrial waste, devastating large areas of countryside and leaving nine villagers dead. A 2-kilometer-long system of dykes has been built to prevent any further spills from reaching settlements.