Foreign briefs

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Greek police announced a major breakthrough Thursday against the elusive and rabidly anti-American November 17 terrorist gang, saying that three members confessed to bombings and other killings, including the murders of military attaches from the United States and Britain.

In the first arrests of November 17 members after the group operated with impunity underground for more than a quarter of a century, police also said its Paris-born chief ideologist, Alexandros Giotopoulos, was in custody. Police said he was taken off a hydrofoil leaving the eastern Aegean island of Lipsi on Wednesday.

London struggles with subway strike

LONDON (AP) -- Walking, riding bicycles and standing in overcrowded double-decker buses, hundreds of thousands of London commuters struggled to reach work Thursday during a 24-hour strike that closed most of the capital's subway system.

By 7 a.m. -- a usually quiet, pre-rush hour time on London's public transport -- people were standing shoulder-to-shoulder on the famous red buses, or waited in growing lines at bus stops. Some unlucky commuters who tried to board already packed buses were held back by harassed-looking conductors.

To make matters worse, Britain was still recovering from a one-day strike by 750,000 municipal employees on Wednesday that had closed schools, libraries and recreation centers in their first national walkout in more than two decades. The strike, over a demand for higher wages, also had affected social workers, garbage collectors, school cafeteria workers and librarians.

German defense minister dismissed

BERLIN (AP) -- Ten weeks before national elections, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder fired his defense minister Thursday following reports he took $72,000 in royalties from a public relations adviser.

In a terse statement, Schroeder said that "there is no longer a basis for working together in government" with Rudolf Scharping, who held the job since Schroeder won office in 1998.

Schroeder is in a tough re-election campaign against conservative Bavarian Gov. Edmund Stoiber who said Scharping's ouster showed the weakness of the Social Democrat-led government.

Philippine action star kills two robbers

MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- A Philippine action film star said he killed two armed men who robbed his house and allegedly tried to rape two of his daughters Thursday.

Sonny Parsons, 44, said six men armed with pistols barged into his house in suburban Marikina city early Thursday.

Parsons, who starred in 29 action films and directed four, said some neighbors believed he was shooting another movie until they saw real blood.