Upset ousts Peres, may end coalition

Jerusalem

A fiery union leader won an upset victory over Shimon Peres in the leadership contest for Israel's Labor Party, officials said today, a development that could endanger the country's shaky governing coalition.

Amir Peretz has promised to pull Labor out of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government, raising the likelihood of early elections. The defeat also could spell the end of Peres' six-decade political career, which included sharing the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize.

Peres, a former prime minister who is now vice premier, wanted to keep Labor in the government until elections scheduled in November 2006.

20,000 protest over disputed elections

Twenty thousand people rallied in Azerbaijan's capital Wednesday to demand the government's resignation because of abuses in last weekend's parliamentary election.

But both sides showed signs of compromise, with the rally ending peacefully and officials taking some steps to address problems with the vote counting.

Azeri opposition leaders are hoping to harness popular outrage over the flawed election to force authorities into staging the voting again — with more democratic conditions. Roses and orange banners betrayed the source of their inspiration: the peaceful revolutions that brought democratic change to Georgia and Ukraine in the past two years, following similar official attempts to rig results.

Azerbaijan, a U.S. ally, earns about $7 billion annually from oil exports to the West. A pipeline that opened earlier this year makes it a key player in the race for Caspian oil.

Official results suggest the pro-Ilham Aliyev New Azerbaijan Party won 63 of the legislature's 125 seats, with most others won by pro-government independents and minor parties. Aliyev fired two regional governors for interfering with the count from last weekend's parliamentary elections, his office said Wednesday.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Hezbollah militant ID'd in '94 bombing

A Hezbollah militant has been identified as the suicide bomber who flattened a Jewish community center in 1994, killing 85 people in Argentina's worst terrorist attack, prosecutors said Wednesday.

The breakthrough in the 11-year-old case came when investigators traveled to Detroit, where friends and relatives identified Ibrahim Hussein Berro, a Lebanese citizen, in a photograph, prosecutors said.

Hussein Berro was driving the van packed with explosives July 18, 1994, when it exploded outside the Argentine Israeli Mutual Aid Association, prosecutor Alberto Nisman alleged. The blast leveled the seven-story building.

Cairo

Early voting has broad turnout

Egyptians voted Wednesday in the first stage of legislative elections expected to make only minor inroads in the domination of parliament by President Hosni Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).

Turnout was better than expected, violence was sparse and the opposition Muslim Brotherhood — still officially banned — ran an active and open campaign in what many viewed as Egypt's freest parliamentary vote.

Opposition and monitoring groups reported incidents of intimidation, vote-buying, abuse of state-owned vehicles and tampering with ballot boxes. The first stage included voters in Cairo and seven other provinces, with the rest of the country voting either Nov. 20 or Dec. 1.

Also

Mexican reporter shot: Mexican radio reporter Benjamin Fernandez, who criticized officials and local politicians, was shot and critically wounded Sunday in the southern state of Oaxaca, the latest in a spate of attacks on reporters.

Web sites sued: The governor of a Cambodian province is suing an American Internet cafe owner over a Web site that promotes a region of the country as an ideal place for people who want to kill themselves. Kampot governor Puth Chandarith said on Wednesday he had filed a suit against Californian Roger Graham over his Web sites, www.euthanasiaincambodia.com and www.asian-hearts.com.

Compiled from The Associated Press and Reuters

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