WORLD BRIEFS

THAILAND: Israel heaps blame on Iran

Israeli officials ramped up accusations Wednesday that Iran was plotting covert attacks, saying "sticky" bombs found in a Thai house rented by Iranians were similar to devices used against Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, called the allegations baseless. The Thai government was trying to determine what three Iranians were plotting when explosives detonated accidentally in a home in Bangkok's busy Sukhumvit Road area a day earlier. Security forces were searching for an Iranian woman they said had rented it. Two men were detained Tuesday after fleeing the destroyed house. A third was arrested Wednesday in Malaysia after taking an overnight flight to Kuala Lumpur.

EASTERN EUROPE: Winter toll passes 650 dead

More than 650 people have died during a record-breaking cold snap in Eastern Europe, authorities said Wednesday. Since the end of January, the region has been pummeled by a deep freeze and the heaviest blizzards in recent memory. Tens of thousands have been trapped in often-freezing homes and villages by walls of snow and impassable roads. Russia and Ukraine alone reported more than 300 deaths. About 100 damaged cars blocked a highway in the Czech Republic connecting Prague with the eastern part of the country and Slovakia. Russia said 205 people have died, while Ukraine has had 112 cold fatalities, Poland 107. Romania's toll was 86 deaths and Lithuania's 23.

CUBA: A victory for a dissident

Police have told dissident Guillermo Farinas they will punish a former officer who threatened to kill him, an unprecedented move that he said should embolden other dissidents attacked by security agents. Farinas said National Revolutionary Police officials told him he will be allowed to attend a session next week whenformer Interior Ministry Maj. Miguel Morejo Padron, will be sanctioned. Farinas won the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize in 2010 for his peaceful activism.