In the World

WASHINGTON - President Bush's homeland security adviser said yesterday that Osama bin Laden, the fugitive al-Qaeda leader, was "virtually impotent" beyond his ability to hide away and spread anti-American propaganda.

The provocative characterization came just days after bin Laden attracted international attention with the release of a video in which he ridiculed President Bush about the Iraq war and reminded the world that he had not been captured.

Ahead of the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, White House aide Frances Fragos Townsend made a clear attempt to diminish the influence - or the perception - of the man who masterminded those attacks.

"This is about the best he can do," Townsend said of bin Laden. "This is a man on a run, from a cave, who's virtually impotent other than these tapes." She appeared yesterday on Fox News Sunday and CNN's Late Edition. - AP

GUATEMALA CITY - A former general vowing to crack down on crime in Central America's most violent country and a businessman who promises to alleviate desperate poverty appeared to lead a pack of 14 candidates in Guatemala's presidential vote yesterday.

The race was expected to end in a runoff in November, following a campaign marred by the deaths of about 50 candidates, party activists and their family members.

Preelection polls showed Otto Perez, the hard-line former general, and Alvaro Colom, a three-time presidential contender, running about even, far ahead of other candidates but short of the majority necessary for a first-round victory. - AP

VIENNA, Austria - Pope Benedict XVI, beset by drab weather and relatively small crowds, ended a pilgrimage to Austria yesterday by reminding Europeans of their Christian heritage as they grapple with immigration and Islam.

Bereft of huge throngs of adoring pilgrims, such as the one million Brazilians who turned out to see him in May, the German-born pontiff appealed to far smaller gatherings of believers in mostly Catholic Austria not to discard their faith.

In a farewell speech, he urged Austrians "to bring the traditional values of the continent - values shaped by the Christian faith - to European institutions."

Despite a chilly rainfall, about 15,000 people packed the square outside Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral for yesterday's papal Mass, according to official estimates. About 12,000 cheering pilgrims flocked to an abbey on the outskirts of the capital to see the pope. - AP

Al-Qaeda's North African affiliate yesterday claimed responsibility for a car bombing that killed 30 Algerian coast guard officers on Saturday and a recent blast that ripped through a crowd waiting for the president, killing 22.

Shepherds from around the world joined their Spanish colleagues to lead flocks of sheep through the streets of downtown Madrid yesterday in defense of ancient grazing routes threatened by urban sprawl and manmade barriers.

A judge has barred former President Carlos Menem from leaving Argentina during an investigation into illicit international arms sales in the 1990s. The judge also ordered $112 million of Menem's assets frozen.