1.  Asad Thanvi, a provincial director of the pro-Taliban Afghan Defense Council, said he met Pearl several days before his disappearance.

2.  Floods began about a week ago in four Tete districts, said the provincial director for public works and housing, Paulo Mesquita.

3.  Police provincial director Charlemagne Alejandrino said the bishop was walking outside the cathedral when the two attackers approached and opened fire.

4.  Police provincial director Antonio Valle said the raid took place early Thursday in Buug in Zamboanga del Sur province.

5.  Police provincial director Mariano Bista asked the rebels to immediately free Magtagad.

6.  Provincial medical director Peter Nhindiri said the disease was spreading because of poor sanitation facilities in some areas.

7.  He appointed former provincial director of education Orlando Candua to replace new Agriculture Minister Carlos de Rosario as governor of central Zambezia province.

8.  A huge fire is threatening the ruined Inca city of Machu Picchu in the southeast Andes, according to Americo Carrillo, provincial director of the National Cultural Institute.

9.  Brigadier Ali Akbar, provincial director of the ANTF, said it would take several years to wipe out all drug processing laboratories in the region.

10.  Rodrigo Dioso was released in the town of Tangcal before dawn, said police provincial director Senior Superintendent Gadiya Cayongcat.