Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Digest

African union, leaders discuss peacekeepers

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published January 15, 2007

A delegation of the African Union was in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, on Sunday to discuss the deployment of international peacekeepers as government troops expanded a house-to-house search for weapons. Mohamed Foum, the AU's special representative for Somalia, said nine delegates were meeting with leaders of the U.N.-supported transitional government. Troops loyal to the interim government, with help from the military of neighboring Ethiopia, has routed an Islamic militia that had controlled much of southern Somalia.

New president vows rapid change

Rafael Correa, a leftist economist, promises swift radical political and economic changes after he is sworn in as president today. Correa, 43, says his first act as president will be to call for a special assembly to rewrite the constitution, which he says is vital to limiting the power of the traditional parties he blames for the country's problems.

Official denies al-Qaida hideouts

Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz rejected claims by the U.S. intelligence chief that al-Qaida leaders have secure hideouts in his country. Aziz said Pakistan aggressively was fighting terrorism and committed to hunting down members of Osama bin Laden's network. National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told a Senate committee last week that leaders of both al-Qaida and Afghanistan's former ruling Taliban militia are finding shelter in Pakistan.

Clinton, lawmakers visit troops, Karzai

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., ate with U.S. soldiers from New York and Indiana at the main U.S. base in Afghanistan on Sunday before meeting with the top U.S. general in Afghanistan and President Hamid Karzai, officials said. Clinton traveled with Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y. All three are members of armed services committees. On Friday, Clinton said she was hearing "increasingly troubling reports out of Afghanistan." The lawmakers later went to Pakistan and met with President Pervez Musharraf.

Interim leader takes control

Bangladesh's new interim leader consolidated his power Sunday by taking over the two agencies that control the army, police and paramilitary security forces. Fakhruddin Ahmed was appointed Friday after President Iajuddin Ahmed stepped down as leader of a caretaker government amid deadly unrest over forthcoming elections. Fakhruddin Ahmed now has the job of overseeing the elections.

Elsewhere

SWEDEN: Falling trees killed at least three people as hurricane-strength winds whipped across southwestern Sweden on Sunday, leaving more than 260,000 households without power. Winds of up to 84 mph also caused major disruptions in train and boat traffic across Scandinavia.

MALAYSIA: More than 100,000 people were evacuated from their homes in southern Malaysia after heavy rains caused massive flooding, officials said today. The evacuations came two weeks after many residents returned home to clean up from flooding in December and early January that killed 17 people and caused $28-million in damage.

[Last modified January 15, 2007, 01:17:15]