Aide says Lebanon’s president won’t quit
Beirut, Lebanon President Emile Lahoud will not bow to pressure from the anti-Syrian opposition to resign, a senior aide said Sunday as the crisis in Lebanon deepened since the Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The aide said Lahoud can be forced to step down only if he is impeached for violation of the constitution or for high treason.
Also Sunday, an eight-member delegation from the U.S. Congress visited Lebanon to pay condolences to Hariri’s family and meet opposition figures. They demanded the withdrawal of Syrian troops.
The assassination of Hariri, Lahoud’s rival, in a Beirut bombing threw the country into crisis.
Two peacekeepers killed during Haiti gunbattles
Port-au-Prince, Haiti U.N. troops and ex-soldiers from Haiti’s disbanded army fought two gunbattles Sunday, leaving two peacekeepers and at least two former soldiers dead in the deadliest day for the U.N. mission, officials said.
The Sri Lankan and Nepalese soldiers who died were the first peacekeepers killed in clashes since U.N. forces arrived in June 2004 to try and stabilize the nation, officials said.
The clashes were the first major confrontation between the U.N. force and members of Haiti’s army who helped oust former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in a 1991 coup and in a rebellion a year ago.
25 killed, 500 injured in tornado, reports say
Dhaka, Bangladesh A tornado tore through northern Bangladesh on Sunday, killing at least 25 people and injuring nearly 500 as it blew away several thousand mostly thatched huts, reports said.
The twister struck late Sunday in dozens of farming villages in Gaibandha district, 120 miles north of the capital, Dhaka, Ittefaq and Janakantha dailies reported today.
Rescuers found 18 bodies in the debris of collapsed homes and trees while seven injured people died en route to hospital, reports said.
Government officials were not immediately available for comment.
Qatar blames Egyptian for suicide bomb attack
Doha, Qatar Qatari officials on Sunday blamed an Egyptian national for a suicide car bombing at a theater that killed a Briton and injured 12 other people in a rare attack in the tiny Gulf state.
The attack came days after a man claiming to be al Qaeda’s leader in the Gulf called for attacks on Western interests.
Qatari officials identified a body at the site as suicide bomber Omar Ahmed Abdullah Ali. A Briton, Jonathan Adams, was killed in the attack, officials said. A dozen others, including six Qataris, a Briton, an Eritrean and a Somali, were injured.
Pilgrims flee rural shrine after bombing kills 30
Fatehpur, Pakistan Pilgrims crammed into buses leaving a village in southwestern Pakistan on Sunday after a bombing at a Shiite shrine left at least 46 dead.
The blast Saturday night prompted anger among thousands who gather here 500 miles southwest of the capital, Islamabad, for an annual festival that bridges sectarian and religious divides. No one claimed responsibility for the attack. An official said 30 people died and 20 were wounded. Another said 44 died.
Protesters in Kyrgyzstan demand president resign
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan Thousands of protesters demanding the resignation of Kyrgyzstan’s president over a flawed election rampaged through a southern city on Sunday, burning down a police station and occupying government buildings.
The government of the former Soviet republic said it was ready to negotiate, but opposition leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev said talks would only be possible if President Askar Akayev himself is involved.
Some analysts say Kyrgyzstan is ripe for protests experienced by other post-Soviet countries such as those that brought pro-Western leaders to power in Ukraine and Georgia.