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British child kidnapped in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 4 (UPI) -- Kidnappers are demanding more than $150,000 ransom in exchange for a 5-year-old British boy snatched Thursday on vacation in Pakistan, police said.

Sohail Saeed, from Oldham, England, was taken on the last day of his family's visit with relatives in Punjab, The Times of London reported Thursday.

Four kidnappers armed with guns and hand grenades broke into the house, tortured the father and demanded the ransom, which the family says it has "no chance" of raising, police said.

"He's a sweet little boy he gets on with everybody, with school, his teachers, his friends," the child's mother, Akila Naqqash, said. "What has he done? He's only a 5-year-old little boy, what has he done? Just bring him back."

Pakistani police said the attack occurred after the family opened the gates at the house to admit a taxi they requested. The men apparently forced their way onto the property, ransacked the house, then put the items and the child in the taxi and escaped, the British newspaper said. The taxi was found abandoned several miles from the house.

The boy's father, Raja Naqqash Saeed, said he feared for the safety of his child and hasn't heard from the kidnappers since a deadline for payment passed.

A spokesman for the British High Commission in Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, said officials were in contact with the child's family. Shabaz Ahmed, a senior local police officer, said police were investigating.

Romanian president visits Afghanistan

BUCHAREST, Romania, March 4 (UPI) -- Romanian President Traian Basescu and two defense officials made a surprise visit to Afghanistan Thursday to visit Romanian NATO troops.

Basescu was accompanied by his nation's defense minister and a senior general, the Mediafax news agency in Bucharest said. They arrived from a two-day state visit to Kazakhstan and met with two senior NATO officials in Kandahar for a 20-minute briefing before setting off to visit the Romanian soldiers.

The trip was not announced in advance due to security reasons, the report said.

There are 1,020 Romanian soldiers taking part in the NATO mission to oust Taliban and al-Qaida insurgents and 600 more are being trained to deploy in Afghanistan, Mediafax said.

Since joining the mission in 1998, 12 Romanian soldiers have died in Afghanistan.

Levin to take over Ways and Means gavel

WASHINGTON, March 4 (UPI) -- The House Ways and Means Committee has a new chairman to replace Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., who stepped aside amid an ethics probe, a panel member said.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., will serve as the interim chairman of the powerful tax-writing committee, The Hill reported.

Rep. Bob Etheridge, D-N.C., said Pelosi made the announcement during a caucus meeting. Etheridge said Ways and Means members unanimously backed Levin, who is chairman of the panel's subcommittee on trade.

The announcement comes a day after Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., second in seniority on the panel, seemed poised to take over the chairmanship after Rangel announced he was temporarily relinquishing his gavel while an ethics panel investigated him. A leadership aide said Wednesday Pelosi had tapped Stark to fill the chairmanship.

Stark, an outspoken liberal, said he wanted to remain as the chairman of the subcommittee on health.

"I worked my whole career on this (health issues), and I don't want to" become chairman of the full committee, he told The Hill. "So Sandy moves up."

Rangel, 79, announced Wednesday he would temporarily step aside as the leader of Ways and Means while an ethics investigation of him moves forward. The House ethics committee announced last week that Rangel violated gift rules by accepting paid travel to the Caribbean. Several Democrats earlier this week called upon the New York Democrat to resign his chairmanship.

Preparations made for indirect peace talks

RAMALLAH, West Bank, March 4 (UPI) -- Indirect talks aimed at bringing Israelis and Palestinians closer may begin during U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's visit next week, a source says.

A Palestinian source told Ynetnews in a report published Thursday the Palestinian Authority is already discussing the possible resumption of indirect talks with Israel.

The source says Palestinian map experts have been summoned to Ramallah so the establishment of permanent borders can be discussed in any talks with Israel.

Palestinians are demanding the indirect negotiations deal with the issue of borders, the source says.

Israel has yet to decide on the matter, Ynetnews said.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Thursday he hopes the visit of Vice President Joe Biden and Middle East envoy George Mitchell will move the peace process forward.

"Our goal is direct talks," Netanyahu said. "But we have always said that we don't insist on the format."

Judges explain verdict in coed's murder

PERUGIA, Italy, March 4 (UPI) -- The case against the U.S. student convicted of killing her British roommate in Italy had no holes or inconsistencies, documents from the trial indicated.

Two judges Thursday released their explanation of the guilty verdict against Amanda Knox for the 2007 death of Meredith Kercher in Perugia, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

In the 427-page document, Perugia Court President Giancarlo Massei and judge Beatrice Cristiani said evidence against Knox, 27, and her ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, was "without holes or inconsistencies."

Knox, of Seattle, was sentenced to 26 years in jail and Sollecito drew a 25-year sentence. Both deny any wrongdoing and are appealing their convictions reached in December.

The murder, which the prosecution successfully argued resulted from drunken sex gone awry, wasn't planned, and Knox and Sollecito harbored no ill-will toward Kercher, the judges said.

"It was a murder without planning, without any animosity or grudge against the victim," the judges said, explaining it resulted from "purely casual contingencies."

Two appeals are allowed under Italian law, ANSA said. Knox and Sollecito's first appeal is expected to begin during the summer.

A third person, Ivory Coast native Rudy Guede, was convicted separately on charges of rape and murder in the incident. His original sentence of 30 years was commuted to 16 years by an appeals court in Perugia. He is also appealing.