World Digest
Key bridges blown up in Georgia

SEIRAN BAROIAN / AP Armed and masked supporters of Aslan Abashidze stand near the remains of a bridge over the Choloki River in Georgia. It was one of the three main bridges blown up by Adzharian forces yesterday.

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The bridge over the Choloki River that forms the internal border with Adzharia was destroyed, cutting off all auto traffic, footage aired by Russian television network RTR showed.

Abashidze claimed that several Georgian military units set up camp only a half-mile from the border, and plans of an invasion were published by the media. Georgia had begun military exercises in the area Friday.

In response, Georgia President Mikhail Saakashvili yesterday told Adzharians to submit to Georgian law and disarm militias within 10 days or he would dissolve its local institutions, remove Abashidze and call for new elections. He had made similar threats earlier.

"No one is trying to invade Adzharia," Saakashvili said. "Had we wanted to do so, bridges would not in any event be necessary."

Saakashvili has vowed to bring Adzharia under central government control, complaining that Abashidze has been withholding tax and customs revenues from the central government and repressing opposition.

Apparent welding accident kills dozens in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — Two fuel tankers exploded yesterday in a bustling marketplace in western Afghanistan, killing at least 25 people in what appeared to be a welding accident, the Afghan government said.

A Herat provincial official said 32 were killed and 40 more injured in the blast in Azizabad, 360 miles west of the capital, Kabul.

The blasts ignited more fuel at a nearby gas station. The explosions destroyed cars and shops, and claimed victims across the marketplace.

Three Chinese engineers killed in Pakistan car bombing
 
KARACHI, Pakistan — Three Chinese engineers working on a seaport project were killed and 11 people were injured in a car bombing in southwestern Pakistan today, police and hospital officials said.

The attack occurred as the bus was taking at least 12 Chinese workers to the Gawadar port, 300 miles west of Karachi, near the border with Iran, said Sattar Lasi, the chief of police in Gawadar. He said it was not clear if it was a suicide attack or the car was exploded by remote control.

Eleven people were injured, nine of them Chinese, Lasi said. The others were a Pakistani driver and security guard.

Alleged mastermind of Serb assassination surrenders

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro — The alleged mastermind of the March 2003 assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic surrendered yesterday after a year on the run, police sources said.

Milorad Lukovic, known as Legija, reportedly gave himself up in a Belgrade city suburb.

Djindjic, a pro-Western reformist who helped topple former Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic, was killed by a sniper outside government offices in central Belgrade.

Gangs in Rio fatally shoot two police officers, two guards

RIO DE JANEIRO — A drug gang shot to death two police officers and two guards at a medical center on one of Rio de Janeiro's main avenues in apparent retaliation for a recent crackdown on drug traffickers, police said yesterday.

Rio State Security Secretary Anthony Garotinho has asked the federal government to send 4,000 troops to help keep order.

"It was an ambush by (drug) traffickers; there was no time to react," a police spokesman said of the Saturday-night attack. He said the attackers vanished into the labyrinth of nearby slums in Rio de Janeiro's poor northern suburbs.

Poland's new prime minister vows to restore public trust

WARSAW — Moderate leftist Marek Belka became Poland's new prime minister yesterday, vowing to restore public trust in the government and capitalize on Poland's robust economic growth to fight 20 percent unemployment.

Belka, 52, took over the reins of power from the unpopular Leszek Miller, who was forced out by the Democratic Left Alliance, which leads the coalition government, after polls showed a wave of scandals had slashed support from 40 percent in 2001 elections to 8 percent.

Late dictator's son wins Panama presidential race

PANAMA CITY, Panama — Martin Torrijos, the son of a former dictator, yesterday won an overwhelming and expected victory in the Central America nation's presidential election.

Ex-President Guillermo Endara, his main rival, conceded defeat to Torrijos, whose father, Gen. Omar Torrijos, ruled Panama from 1968 until his death in 1981.

Endara's 1989 election was overturned by the military. He was sworn into office later that year, when U.S. troops invaded Panama and overthrew dictator Gen. Manuel Noriega. Endara served until 1994.

"I invite everyone to join in a new social pact against poverty, corruption and despair," Torrijos said in his victory speech. With 40 percent of the vote counted, Torrijos had about 47 percent of balloting and Endara about 30 percent.