WORLD BRIEFS

PAKISTAN: 17 health workers released

A court reinstated in their jobs on Thursday 17 health workers fired last year for allegedly participating in a CIA scheme to confirm the presence of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, lawyer Javed Awan said. He said the 16 females and one male were suspended by a government health department last year for failing to inform authorities about Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi's fake vaccination campaign. They insist they did not know Afridi was working for the CIA. Pakistan protested the U.S. raid in which bin Laden was killed, considering it a violation of sovereignty. Afridi was sentenced to three decades in prison for ties to militants, but it is believed he was punished for his role in the raid.

AFGHANISTAN: More friction with Karzai

A dispute over the fate of three dozen militants held by U.S. forces has disrupted negotiations over a long-term agreement to leave U.S. troops in the country after 2014. The United States has refused to turn over the prisoners, deemed especially dangerous compared with more than 3,000 already transferred to Afghan control, unless President Hamid Karzai guarantees they will not be released. Tensions have risen in recent days, as Karzai has accused the United States of breaking an agreement on the transfers. On Tuesday, he warned his government might move to take over the U.S.-supervised prison at Bagram Air Base. When Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel visited last weekend, Karzai accused the United States of torturing civilians and colluding with the Taliban to prolong the war. U.S. commander Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr. ordered U.S. troops to intensify security measures out of concern that Karzai's statements are creating a greater risk of attack from rogue Afghan security forces and insurgents.

RUSSIA: Astronauts' return delayed

Bad weather is delaying the return of three astronauts from the International Space Station. They were to land in a Soyuz capsule in central Kazakhstan early Friday, but fog and freezing rain prevented Russian rescue helicopters from flying to the site. NASA's Kevin Ford and Russians Oleg Novitsky and Yevgeny Tarelkin will stay in space at least another day. They've been in space for nearly five months.