KABUL, Afghanistan – The Taliban dismissed a national peace conference in Afghanistan even before its Wednesday opening, threatening death to the 1,600 delegates in cassette messages distributed by the insurgent leadership.

The three-day meeting in a giant tent at Kabul Polytechnic University was to discuss how to reconcile with the fighters — even as the U.S. rushes in more troops to ramp up the nearly nine-year war. But the meeting could also open fissures in a society deeply divided after decades of conflict.

President Hamid Karzai will use the conference, known as a “peace jirga,” to seek endorsement of his plan to offer economic incentives to Taliban and other insurgent fighters willing to leave the battlefield.

On Tuesday, the Taliban said in a statement to news organizations that the jirga does not represent the Afghan people and was aimed at “securing the interest of foreigners.”

It said the participants “are on the payroll of the invaders and work for their interests.”

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GUATEMALA CITY – A cavernous and almost perfectly round sinkhole swallowed an entire intersection in Guatemala City during a tropical storm, spooking people in the neighborhood but exciting geologists.

The hole is 66 feet (20 meters) across and plunges nearly 100 feet (30 meters) deep.

Geologists said Tuesday that the circular shape suggested a cave formation underneath, but what exactly caused the sinkhole was still a mystery.

“I can tell you what it’s not: It’s not a geological fault, and it’s not the product of an earthquake,” said David Monterroso, a geophysics engineer at the National Disaster Management Agency. “That’s all we know. We’re going to have to descend.”

The sinkhole formed Saturday and gulped down a clothing factory about three miles (two kilometers) from the site of a similar sinkhole three years ago.

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ALLENBY BRIDGE, Jordan – Dozens of pro-Palestinian activists detained in the Israeli raid on the Gaza aid flotilla arrived in Jordan on Wednesday after being deported from neighboring Israel, Jordanian officials said.

The 124 activists from 12 Muslim nations — most of them without diplomatic ties with Israel — crossed the Allenby Bridge aboard five Jordanian buses.

The bridge across the Jordan River is under Israeli control. It links Jordan with the West Bank.

Jordanian government spokesman Nabil Al-Sharif said there were 30 Jordanians in the group. Jordan is one of two Arab nations with a signed peace treaty with Israel.

The bridge’s Jordanian chief, Brig. Mahmoud Abu Jumaa, said Jordan will help repatriate the activists — who include lawmakers and journalists — to their respective countries in coordination with their governments.

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MOSCOW – Russian mission control says a Soyuz capsule carrying three astronauts from the International Space Station has landed in Kazakhstan.

The landing on the barren Central Asian steppes on Wednesday morning took place about 3 1/2 hours after the capsule separated from the ISS and began streaking toward Earth.

It was carrying Russian Oleg Kotov, American Timothy Creamer and Soichi Noguchi of Japan, who had been aboard the orbiting laboratory since late December.

There was no immediate word on the crew’s condition. Soyuz landings are tracked by helicopters that watch the capsule’s parachute-slowed descent, then head for the site to extract the astronauts.

(This version CORRECTS Corrects date in 2nd graf to Wednesday, sted Tuesday. APNewsNow. For global distribution.)

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