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World in brief

Ukraine's fired leader goes own way

By wire services
Published September 10, 2005

KIEV, Ukraine - Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who came to symbolize Ukraine's Orange Revolution, signaled in an emotional, televised address Friday that she is moving into the opposition to President Viktor Yushchenko, her comrade in arms in last year's uprising.

The move by Tymoshenko, whom Yushchenko sacked Thursday, deals the president a huge setback. Her popularity rivals his, and she could become a formidable opponent in parliamentary elections just six months away.

Yushchenko's firing of Tymoshenko's 7-month-old government, amid allegations of corruption, deepened a crisis that has diminished his popularity.

Tymoshenko controls a 41-person bloc in Parliament - smaller than Yushchenko's 96 but still a major force - and is likely to trigger at least a few high-profile defections.

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan - A suspect in the July terror bombings in London briefly visited a school in Pakistan linked with Muslim militants, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf confirmed for the first time Friday.

But Musharraf dismissed suggestions that the trip to an Islamic school in Lahore impacted the beliefs or motivations of Shahzad Tanweer. He said Tanweer stayed there too briefly to be influenced, and his "indoctrination" was likely the result of his lack of assimilation into British society.

He said an investigation into Tanweer's activities in Pakistan was continuing.

Tanweer, 22, fellow Pakistan native Mohammed Sidique Khan and two accomplices set off bombs in the London transport system July 7, killing 52 people and themselves. Both Tanweer and Khan visited Pakistan last year.

EGYPTIAN ELECTION: Turnout was miserably low, voting irregularities were prevalent and the result - President Hosni Mubarak's re-election - was known from the start. Still, some in the opposition said Friday that Egypt's flawed vote created momentum toward greater democracy. The final results announced Friday by the elections commission held no surprises: Mubarak, 77, won a new six-year term with 88.6 percent of the vote. Turnout was 23 percent, according to the commission.

GANG ARRESTS: Simultaneous raids this week in five countries netted 660 dangerous gang members, according to a statement Thursday from Salvadoran national police. "Operation International" was a joint effort between El Salvador, United States, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. In El Salvador, 237 people were captured; in Honduras, 162; in Guatemala, 98; in Mexico, 90; and in the United States, 73.

[Last modified September 10, 2005, 01:24:05]