Colombia clears 50 minefields set up by guerrillas 
The Colombian armed forces have cleared 50 minefields set up by guerrillas in the central part of the country, military sources said on Saturday. 

A report of the Fifth Army Division said 132 devices, includingnine "high-power" bombs, had been found in the minefields set up by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the largest guerrilla group in the South American country. 

Colombia suffers a decades-long civil war, which pits government forces, leftist guerrillas and far-right paramilitariesagainst one another. The conflict kills about 3,500 people every year, most of them civilians. 

Panama signs 4 port agreements with US 
Panama signed four shipping information exchange agreements this week with several US port cities on the Atlantic Ocean, it was reported here on Saturday. 

The agreements were signed between the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) and the authorities of the American ports of Florida, Houston,Charleston and New Orleans, an ACP spokesman was quoted by the press as saying. 

Under these agreements, Panama will benefit from first-hand information on the flow of cargo and the future plans of these US harbors, said the spokesman. 

More than 60 percent of the cargo transported through the Panama Canal comes from or goes to US harbors on the Atlantic coast. 

The agreements would promote cooperation between harbors of theGulf of Mexico and the eastern seaboard of the American continent and would provide new business opportunities for the Panama Canal and the country in general, the ACP spokesman added. The ACP had previously signed agreements with Norfolk, New York and Savannah of the United States. 

First US aircraft carrier named for living president commissioned 
Former US first lady Nancy Reagan commissioned the US Navy's newest aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagon, at Norfolk Naval Station in Virginia on Saturday, the first named for a living president. 

At a ceremony, Vice President Dick Cheney said the US Navy today is in many ways a monument to Reagon's vision. "He came to the presidency with a clear understanding of the tools our Navy would need to protect the American people," Cheney said. 

The aircraft carrier, nearly 1,100 feet (330 meters) long and standing 20 stories above the waterline, will be based in San Diego, be home to 6,000 sailors and carry more than 80 aircraft. 

With two nuclear reactors, the carrier can operate for 20 yearswithout refueling. It is expected to serve the Navy for more than 50 years. 

Reagan, now 92 and ailing with Alzheimer's disease, did not attend the ceremony. 

Colombian police seize 4 tons of marijuana 
Colombian police said on Saturday that 4 tons of marijuana was seized in the northeast of the country, near the border with Venezuela. 

The Colombian secret police, or DAS, said the marijuana was hidden inside an old mine in mountains in the northern state of Norte de Santander, 550 km from Bogota. 

The DAS said the drug, suspected to belong to far-right paramilitaries, was bound for the United States. 

No arrests were reported. 

Colombia, located in the well-known "Silver Triangle" of drug production in South America, is the largest producer of cocaine and heroin in the world. 

A report released by the United Nations in late June said Colombia-made cocaine reached three-fourths of the world's users.

Italian president on importance of Italian-German ties 
Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi said that the recent tensions between Italy and Germany should not be allowed to undermine the friendship and ties betweenthe two countries, Italian media reported Saturday. 

In an interview with German Sunday daily Bild am Sonntag that will hit newsstands Sunday, Ciampi said that "we cannot allow the painful polemics that have upset Italian-German relations to cast a shadow over our future cooperation." 

"Both countries must return to wisdom and calm as soon as possible," the head of state said. 

"I firmly believe in the friendship between Germany and Italy and the shared values that bind our two countries together," he said, adding that "of course German tourists are welcome in Italy." 

Italian-German relations were upset this month by a highly-publicized gaffe by Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi in the European Parliament and anti-German comments by an undersecretary who held a briefing for tourism. 

Berlusconi sparked uproar in Strasbourg on July 2 after comparing a German Euro MP who had criticized him to a Nazi concentration camp guard. 

Italian Production Activities Ministry Undersecretary Stefano Stefani, a member of the Italian populist Northern League, compounded the row with an attack on German tourists, branding them as "arrogant hyper-nationalistic blondes." 

Stefani refused to apologise for his remarks and resigned Friday evening. But the resignation came more than a week after hecaused a storm with a barrage of insults about German tourists. 

The undersecretary's remarks outraged Germany, sparked an anti-Italy campaign in the German media and led Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to cancel his vacation in Italy. 

But Berlusconi, who took over the six-month European Union rotating presidency on July 1, stressed that Italian-German relations would not be damaged by the affair, saying "ties are excellent and deep." 

The German government refused to comment on Stefani's resignation. Schroeder's spokesman Bela Anda told the press that "this is a sovereign decision by the Italian government and it's not up to us to comment." 

But he said the chancellor would not backpedal on his decision to change his holiday plans and vacation in Germany.

Northern Italy grapples with drought conditions 
A drought alarm was recently sounded in northern Italy as local governments warned that one of the driest Julys on record had depleted rivers and damaged crops, according to media reports in Rome on Saturday . 

The 650-km River Po was having its lowest levels in a hundred years, at one section dropping to the lowest in living memory at 7.56 meters below hydrometric zero. 

The drought is estimated to have caused 5 billion euros in damage to agriculture in the north, with olive, rice and corn production down by up to 30 percent. 

The national civil protection department said that "if the situation doesn't improve over the next few weeks, we will have tomake a drastic decision, whether to water the fields or ensure that the electricity plants keep working."