Bush promises no more kidnaps

MEXICO CITY (AP) - President Bush has promised Mexico that he will not allow the abduction of any more criminal suspects south of the border, but he said that a Mexican snatched after the killing of a US drug agent will not be handed back.

The US ambassador, John Negroponte, said yesterday that President Bush had written to the Mexican President, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, saying his administration 'will not . . . permit such abductions in the future'. Both sides said the letter helped ease ties strained by this month's Supreme Court decision sanctioning the abduction of the suspect.