COLOMBIA

Marchers to seek release of hostages

BOGOTA — Tens of thousands are expected to join marches across this nation Sunday, which will be joined by simultaneous gatherings in South Florida, Paris and other cities around the world, to demand the release of hundreds of hostages still held by leftist rebels in the jungles and mountains of Colombia.

The global call comes after 15 longtime hostages, including three American defense contractors and former Colombian presidential contender Ingrid Betancourt, were rescued in a bold operation early this month.

The marches, which coincide with Colombian Independence Day, have been called by a wide range of civic organizations that span the political spectrum, as well as government authorities.

A simultaneous demonstration and concert are planned in Paris, where Betancourt is recovering from her ordeal. Colombian politician Luis Eladio Perez, also a former hostage who was released in February, will lead the South Florida march. Similar events are planned for New York, Hong Kong, Madrid and other cities worldwide.

BRAZIL

Grain-export tax increase suspended

RIO DE JANEIRO — More than four months of political turmoil that had paralyzed much of Argentina ended Friday when President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner suspended a controversial increase in grain-export taxes that had angered the country's powerful farm sector.

The action came a day after the country's Senate dealt the president a stinging defeat by rejecting legislation ratifying the tax increase, which the government had implemented by decree in March. Vice President Julio Cobos defied the president by casting the deciding negative vote in the Senate.

Since March, the country's main four farm groups have protested the new sliding scale of export taxes by blocking roads and withholding production, which sparked scattered food shortages and froze the country's grain-export markets. Argentina is a major producer of soybeans, wheat and other grains, and the farm strike has strained already tight world supplies.

AFGHANISTAN

Two humanitarian workers kidnapped

KABUL — Two French humanitarian workers were kidnapped at gunpoint Friday in Afghanistan and spirited out of the house they were sleeping in, the aid group Action Against Hunger and the French Foreign Ministry said.

The two are believed to be alive, the Paris-based group said in a statement.

Also Friday, explosions were reported in Helmand Province and in Kabul.

A Friday morning blast in Helmand province's Nava district killed three guards and wounded four, said provincial police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal.

Later Friday, Mohammad Nasim, a police official in Kabul, reported that an explosion in the western part of the capital had damaged property, including a mosque, in a residential neighborhood. There were no reports of casualties.

— From wire reports