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Late dictator's son wins election in Panama

PANAMA CITY, Panama - Martin Torrijos, the son of a former dictator, on Sunday won the nation's first presidential vote since the handover of the Panama Canal and withdrawal of U.S. troops in December 1999.

Ex-president Guillermo Endara, his main rival, conceded defeat to Torrijos, whose father, Gen. Omar Torrijos, ruled Panama from 1968 until his death in 1981.

During the campaign, the candidates - both heavily linked to Panama's troubled history - had vowed not to revive its authoritarian past. With 40 percent of the vote counted, Torrijos had about 47 percent of balloting and Endara about 30 percent.

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro - A notorious paramilitary leader suspected of masterminding last year's assassination of Serbia's prime minister surrendered to police Sunday.

Milorad Lukovic, known by his nickname "Legija," surrendered at 9 p.m. in Belgrade, Serbian Interior Minister Dragan Jocic said.

He had been on the run since March 12, 2003, when pro-Western Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was gunned down by a sniper in front of his Belgrade government headquarters.

Lukovic - who led a dreaded paramilitary unit during the 1990s wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo - was the No. 1 suspect in the slaying.

Two fuel tankers exploded Sunday in a bustling marketplace in western Afghanistan, killing at least 25 people in what appeared to be an accident, the Afghan government said. A provincial official said 32 were killed.

Up to 40 more people were reported injured in the blast in Azizabad, a town 360 miles west of the capital, Kabul, in Herat province.

NEW MILITIA: The U.S. military and Afghan officials have agreed to establish a new militia to fight an insurgency flaring across the south and east of the country, the Afghan Defense Ministry said Sunday.

Recruited from militias across the country, the new Afghan Guard Force will consist of about 2,000 men, said defense ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi.

NEW YORK - Iraq is the most dangerous place to be a journalist, followed by Cuba and Zimbabwe, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Sunday in a list of the 10 most hazardous countries for the job.

Twenty-five journalists have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003, the group said.In Cuba, a crackdown on the press by President Fidel Castro last year left "an unprecedented 29 journalists behind bars," the group said, with some journalists serving prison terms of nearly 30 years.

Police in Zimbabwe arrested journalists who reported on prodemocracy rallies, and ruling party supporters have attacked reporters.