RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian militants fired Wednesday at Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' West Bank headquarters while he was in the compound, but he was not injured, security officials said.
Later, the 15 gunmen - who said they belong to an armed group linked to the ruling Fatah movement - went on a shooting rampage throughout the city of Ramallah, damaging several restaurants and forcing shops to close, witnesses and officials said.
Abbas - who was elected president in a Jan. 9 vote after the November death of Yasser Arafat - has vowed to bring law and order to Palestinian areas, and reform his overlapping and corruption-plagued security forces.
The gunmen - members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades - said they went on their rampage after Palestinian security officials forced six of them out of the Ramallah headquarters, where they had sought refuge after Israel began hunting down fugitives shortly after violence erupted in September 2000. Arafat had allowed more than 20 fugitives to remain in his compound, and Abbas had followed suit.
EU ministers back Wolfowitz candidacy
BRUSSELS - The European Union backed Paul Wolfowitz's nomination as World Bank chief Wednesday as the U.S. deputy defense secretary promised to work closely with Europe and mount a major fight against global poverty.
Wolfowitz struck a conciliatory tone after a two-hour session with European Union development and finance ministers, moving to ease concerns about his reputation as a unilateralist with little experience on development issues.
"There are no objections of EU countries" to Wolfowitz, Belgian Development Aid minister Armand De Decker after the meeting.
Wolfowitz, a key architect of the Iraq war, is expected to be approved as the bank chief on Thursday. He said he was "eager to take on this challenge."
"Helping people lift themselves out of poverty is truly a noble mission," he said.
The United States, as the Washington-based World Bank's largest shareholder, traditionally puts forward a candidate to lead the institution and the board usually accepts the nomination.
Mugabe confident of victory on eve of elections
HARARE, Zimbabwe - President Robert Mugabe, widely accused of rigging previous elections, predicted a huge victory Wednesday, the eve of parliamentary elections. Opposition leaders urged supporters to go to the polls in defiance of intimidation and fears of violence.
The ballot pits Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party against the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, which won nearly half the seats in the legislature five years ago in a stinging rebuke to the 81-year-old leader.
Mugabe, increasingly isolated globally for repressive measures during 25 years in power, said the election would prove once and for all that Zimbabweans reject interference from the rest of the world.
But opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said the Mugabe regime's days are numbered.
"The end is near. Five years of your efforts in fighting against this illegitimate regime may be ending tomorrow," Tsvangirai told some 4,500 supporters in the eastern Chimanimani region.
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INTERNAL U.N. REPORT: The U.N.'s top elections official, Carina Perelli, presided over a department whose leadership tolerated sexual harassment, misused office funds and engaged in favoritism, a confidential management review of the U.N. electoral assistance division says. The findings delivered a fresh blow to the United Nations' credibility when it is already reeling from an investigation into sexual misconduct in U.N. peacekeeping missions and corruption and mismanagement of the $64-billion U.N. oil-for-food program.
