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Man arrested in hit-run death of border agent

Mexico City

Mexican authorities said Wednesday they had arrested a man in northern Mexico in the weekend killing of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Luis Aguilar. A spokesman for Mexico's federal Attorney General's Office who spoke on condition of anonymity said Jesus Navarro Montes, 22, was arrested in the northern state of Sonora on Wednesday. Aguilar was trying to stop a suspected smuggler who had illegally entered the United States from Mexico when he was hit by the vehicle, according to Agent Michael Bernacke, a spokesman for the agency's Yuma sector.

- The United States wants to tie a $1.5-billion antidrug aid package in part to Mexico's performance in extraditing suspects, David T. Johnson, who heads the State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, said Wednesday.

Ankara, Turkey

Greek leader pays a historic visit

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis on Wednesday became the first Greek premier to pay an official visit to Turkey in nearly 50 years, reflecting warming ties between two countries that have come close to war several times. Karamanlis and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, spoke of their determination to work toward resolving long-standing disputes - including the divided island of Cyprus as well as airspace and sea boundaries in the Aegean Sea - but there was no agreement on how to proceed.

Islamabad, Pakistan

Musharraf urged to step down

An influential group of former military officers, the Pakistan Ex-Servicemen's Society, called on Pakistan's embattled President Pervez Musharraf to step down, a move that could further undermine the U.S.-allied leader ahead of parliamentary elections next month. The society said Musharraf no longer "represents the unity and the symbol of the federation as president." The statement was signed by more than 100 former generals, admirals, air marshals and other retired officers and enlisted men. Musharraf was commander of the army until stepping down last month.

Elsewhere

Rome: Premier Romano Prodi won a confidence vote in Parliament's lower house Wednesday night, but his chances for success in the upper house appeared dim as more allies defected amid growing pressure on the center-left leader to resign. A vote is scheduled today in the Senate.

Khartoum, Sudan: A surge of truck hijackings threatens to cut off food rations for more than 2-million people in Darfur, the World Food Program said Wednesday after 22 of its vehicles were attacked and stolen this month alone.

La Paz, Bolivia: Californian Triston Jay Amero, 26, who adopted the name Lestat Claudius de Orleans y Montevideo, was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in prison without parole for killing two people in hotel bombings in 2006. The name is of a character in Anne Rice's vampire novels.

Jiddah, Saudi Arabia: Prominent Saudi political activist Saud Mokhtar al-Hashemi, 45, remains in solitary confinement "without charge and without access to counsel" a year after he was arrested, his lawyer said Wednesday.

Warsaw, Poland: All 20 people aboard a military plane were killed when it crashed Wednesday in northwestern Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.

[Last modified January 24, 2008, 00:13:00]