World notebook

Two U.N. soldiers are killed in Congo

BUKAVU, Congo - A renegade commander pulled his remaining troops out of this strategic city in eastern Congo on Sunday, four days after setting off a crisis in the volatile region by seizing Bukavu.

But violence continued as assailants ambushed a U.N. convoy in an unrelated incident in North Kivu province, killing two South African peacekeepers and wounding nine others, a U.N. official said.

The fall of Bukavu was the most serious setback to Congo's transitional government since it was set up last June to end the five-year conflict in Africa's third-largest country.

The crisis also further strained already poor relations between Congo and neighboring Rwanda.

The government accused Rwanda of supporting the uprising, allegations denied by Rwandan officials. Rwanda closed its border with Congo on Sunday because of the accusations, Rwandan Foreign Minister Charles Muligande said.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - An Irish cameraman working for the British Broadcasting Corp. was killed and a British reporter injured in a shooting Sunday in the Saudi capital, just hours after the foreign minister said the kingdom was doing "everything we can" to protect citizens and residents.

The BBC identified the dead man as Simon Cumbers, 36, and the injured man as BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner, 42.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw condemned the attack on the two journalists and pledged that Britain "will continue to do all we can to support the Saudi authorities in their fight against terrorism."

TEHRAN, Iran - A leading conservative with family ties to Iran's supreme leader was elected Sunday as speaker of Iran's Parliament, the first time since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution that the post has been held by someone other than a cleric.

Gholam Ali Haddad Adel was elected as head of the Majlis, or Parliament, after running unchallenged. Adel, 59, whose daughter is married to the son of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is known for his academic background and leadership of a minority faction in the former Parliament. His family ties to Khamenei are expected to strengthen the speaker's position.

HUMAN RIGHTS: Iranian judges have detained and tortured writers, student leaders and political activists in secret prisons and muzzled reform-minded newspapers to "shut down" dissent, Human Rights Watch said today in a report that holds out little hope for change.

"There is widespread agreement that the political environment has become increasingly abusive and defined by force," Human Rights Watch said in its 73-page report, "Like the Dead in Their Coffins: Torture, Detention, and the Crushing of Dissent in Iran."

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