WORLD BRIEFS

YEMEN: Drone strikes kill four

U.S. airstrikes targeting al-Qaida leaders killed four suspected militants, including one suspected of involvement in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, officials said Tuesday. Missiles struck a school and a car late Monday in southern Abyan province. Tribal officials said the drone strike hit the militants as they were meeting at the school. Airstrikes also hit targets in the surrounding mountains and a car carrying people to the meeting between the towns of Lauder and Moudia.

SOUTH AFRICA: Leaky condoms raise alarm

Some condoms burst. Others leaked. South Africa's leading anti-AIDS group said Tuesday that allegedly faulty condoms are among more than 1.35 million handed out at the African National Congress' 100th birthday party. Health officials confirmed that they have been ordered recalled. But the Treatment Action Campaign said no warning has been issued to people that they may have carried away defective condoms that could cause them to spread or contract HIV. AIDS activist Sello Mokhalipi said he complained to the health department after "we had people flocking in, coming to report that the condoms had burst while they were having sex." Some were panicking because they have AIDS and were concerned for their partners, he said.

TURKEY: Nine crew sought in sinking

The Turkish Coast Guard searched for nine crew members after a Cambodia-flagged freighter sank Tuesday in stormy seas off the Black Sea coast. The second and third captains were rescued. The ship "Vera," carrying scrap metal, was sailing to Aliaga, Turkey, from Russia when it sank off Eregli. The Maritime Affairs Directorate said 10 Ukrainians and a Georgian were aboard.