FLOOD OF TOXIC SLUDGE BURNS HUNGARIAN TOWNS The Hungarian government declared a state of emergency in several towns Tuesday, a day after a reservoir at an alumina production plant in Ajka burst its banks, unleashing a flood of toxic red sludge that killed at least four people and injured more than 120, government officials said. The flood, estimated at 700,000 cubic meters, or 185 million gallons, swept cars off roads, damaged bridges and houses and forced the evacuation of hundreds of residents. People who came in contact with the substance were burned through their clothes. FRENCH POLICE ARREST 12 IN COUNTERTERRORISM RAIDS The French police arrested 12 people in two separate raids in southern France on Tuesday in what the Interior Ministry said was part of a campaign against terrorism. France is already on a state of high alert because of threats from al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, a North African group that is linked to but operates separately from al-Qaida. French officials say they are also taking seriously U.S. warnings about the possibility of attacks by small armed groups against targets in Europe, like tourist attractions and public transportation. TALIBAN LEADER SUSPECTED IN REPORTER'S ABDUCTION IS CAPTURED A Taliban leader in northern Afghanistan believed to have been involved in the kidnapping of a New York Times reporter as well as the intimidation of the local population was captured on Tuesday in Takhar province. The Taliban commander, whom Maj. Sunset R. Belinsky, a NATO spokeswoman, declined to name, was known as a district leader in Chahar Darah, in Kunduz province, which borders Takhar. The captured Taliban commander is implicated directly in the Sept. 5, 2009, kidnapping of a Times correspondent, Stephen Farrell, and his translator, Sultan Munadi. NETANYAHU WEIGHS OFFER OF SETTLEMENT FREEZE EXTENSION As the Palestinians consider withdrawing from peace talks with Israel unless a freeze on Jewish settlement building in the West Bank is extended, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is engaged in his own calculations about whether accepting an American offer aimed at prolonging the freeze would destroy his political coalition. Netanyahu is examining an American offer of a 60-day freeze extension in exchange for security and political guarantees. A deadline looms this weekend. GERMANY HALTS DEMOLITION OF CENTURY-OLD TRAIN STATION Hoping to cool down what has become a growing political problem and national embarrassment for Germany's top leadership, officials said Tuesday that they would not cut down any more trees or demolish the remaining wing of a century-old train station, at least for now. Though the remarks by officials did not represent a moratorium on construction of a new high-speed transit hub in the city of Stuttgart, it did mark the first time officials inched away from an aggressive insistence that construction move ahead on the Stuttgart 21 project, said leaders of the opposition movement in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. KIM AND SON APPEAR AT NORTH KOREAN MILITARY EXERCISE The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, watched a live-fire military exercise with his youngest son and heir apparent in what was believed to be the first public appearance of Kim Jong-un since he was given the rank of four-star general last week. The North's official Korean Central News Agency reported on Tuesday that the two Kims were joined by other members of their family and senior officials in the new North Korean leadership. The location and date of the drill were not specified. But it was significant, analysts in Seoul said, that the younger Kim's first public event was a military exercise, as the government tries to create the image of him as a capable military man. 