World Digest
Gunmen in Haiti wound U.N. peacekeeper

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Heavy gunfire erupted in the capital when Brazilian troops backed by Haitian police rolled through the volatile slum of Bel Air, where armed men were demanding the return of Aristide from exile, said U.N. spokesman Toussaint Kongo-Doudou.

Peacekeepers "came under heavy fire and they returned fire," Kongo-Doudou said, adding that it appeared that some of the gunmen were wounded.

The Brazilian soldier was wounded in the foot — the first casualty among some 3,000 peacekeepers. Kongo-Doudou said troops and police arrested more than 60 people suspected of attacking them.

Leader calls on China to begin peace talks

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan's leader urged China today to begin peace talks so the two rivals can avoid war.

Chinese and Taiwanese leaders haven't met since the Communists took over China in 1949 and Taiwan began resisting the mainland's rule. China insists that Taiwan is a Chinese province and has threatened to attack if it refuses to unify eventually.

"Because we can't communicate, there's a lot of misunderstanding," President Chen Shui-bian said in his National Day speech.

Most Taiwanese deeply distrust the Communist leadership and don't want Beijing to have a say in the democratic island's affairs.

"If the military threat continues, the distance between the two sides will grow larger," Chen said.

Taiwan has been drifting away from China since Chen took office in 2000. He has refused to accept Beijing's sacred "one-China principle" — which says Taiwan is an inseparable part of China — and has insisted that Taiwan is an independent country that can determine its own political future.
 
Pro-Taliban cleric, colleague fatally shot

KARACHI, Pakistan — A leading pro-Taliban Sunni Muslim cleric and an associate were shot dead in southern Pakistan yesterday, the latest attack in religious violence that has already killed more than 70 people this month.

Two unidentified gunmen riding a motorcycle opened fire on Mufti Jameel Ahmad Khan's van near his house in a middle-class neighborhood of eastern Karachi, police said.

Khan was shot five or six times in the chest and stomach and died at a hospital, and his associate, another cleric, was also killed, doctors said.

The killings follow two deadly attacks on religious gatherings of both majority Sunnis and minority Shiite Muslims, fueling fears of a flare-up in sectarian violence.

Khan was a close associate of Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai, a leading pro-Taliban cleric who was shot dead in Karachi in May.

Powerful typhoon hits coast of Japan

TOKYO — The most powerful typhoon to hit Japan in a decade raked the Pacific coastline yesterday, killing at least two people and leaving at least five others missing.

Ma-on was the record eighth typhoon to reach Japan's shores this year. It brought sustained winds of 100 mph before veering eastward over the ocean.

Hardest hit were Tokyo and the central states of Shizuoka and Aichi, where rain flooded streets and wind damaged trees.