In the World

LONDON - A plane from Cairo bound for New York was diverted by fighter jets to an emergency landing in the U.K. after a passenger discovered a letter threatening the aircraft, officials said Saturday.

Police said late Saturday that there had been no arrests, and that authorities are working to ascertain who wrote the note in a lavatory that forced Flight 985 - carrying about 300 passengers en route to John F. Kennedy Airport - to make an emergency landing at Glasgow's Prestwick Airport.

British Typhoon fighter jets escorted the plane to Glasgow's Prestwick Airport, where the flight was met by a heavy police presence. It stayed there for several hours before passengers were able to disembark, at which point officers searched the plane.

The BBC said one of its producers, Nada Tawfik, had discovered the note, written in pencil on a napkin, with the words "I'll set this plane on fire" and what appeared to be a seat number written on it. She said that after discovering the note by the lavatory sink, she alerted the cabin crew . - AP

MEXICO CITY - A strong 6.5-magnitude earthquake was registered off the Pacific coast of Nicaragua around midday Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries after the quake, which was felt at 11:34 a.m. local time.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered about 31 miles west of the Masachapa, a community on Nicaragua's Pacific coast. Nicaragua's seismological institute measured the temblor's strength as 6.6, and it declared a tsunami alert as a precaution because of the earthquake's strength. - AP

MAPUTO, Mozambique - Regional presidents meeting at a special summit on Zimbabwe asked President Robert Mugabe to delay crucial elections he has set for the end of July while asking the nation to guarantee conditions for free and fair elections, officials said Saturday.

The summit took note of a ruling by Zimbabwe's highest court ordering Mugabe to hold crucial polls by July 31 but "agreed on the need for Zimbabwe to engage the Constitutional Court to seek more time beyond July 31," said Tomaz Salomao, secretary general of the regional economic and political bloc known as the Southern Africa Development Community, or SADC.

No comment was immediately available from Mugabe. - AP

Yemeni security officials say a Dutch couple is believed to have been kidnapped from the capital, San'a. The officials say police received a phone call that prompted them to check on the couple. They broke down their apartment door after no one answered and found only the couple's dog. They say the two have been missing for three days and are believed to be kidnapped. The officials spoke anonymously in line with regulations.