U.N. seeks interview with Syrian leader

A U.N. commission said Monday it had asked a second time to question Syria's president about the assassination of a former Lebanese leader, turning up the pressure on Damascus after a former top government official said President Bashar Assad had issued a threat before the killing.

The commission's spokeswoman, Nasra Hassan, said it also wants to interview former Syrian Vice President Abdul-Halim Khaddam "as soon as possible." Khaddam, a one-time stalwart of Syria's ruling party, said in a television interview last week that Assad had threatened former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri several months before Hariri's Feb. 14 assassination in Beirut.

The U.N. commission asked to interview Assad in July but was refused. Hassan said it is "waiting for a response from the Syrians."

10 dead in attacks on military barracks

Gunmen attacked the two main military barracks in Ivory Coast's largest city Monday, setting off a battle with security forces that killed 10 people, officials said.

Armed-forces chief Gen. Phillipe Mangou went on state television to reassure nervous residents after an hour of gunfire, saying military forces had repulsed the attack.

Army spokesman Col. Hilaire Gohourou Babri said seven of the attackers and three security forces were killed in the battle. Babri said dozens of the attackers had been arrested. There was no word on who carried out the assault.

Panti, Indonesia

Death toll rises from mudslide

Rescuers searching through mud and debris left by flash floods in central Indonesia found 23 more bodies today, bringing to 57 the number of people killed in the disaster.

Several villages were inundated when heavy weekend rains triggered a landslide on a hill in Panti, a subdistrict of East Java province about 540 miles east of Jakarta, and forced a river to break its banks early Monday.

Hundreds of houses and boarding schools were destroyed or washed away, a Panti official said. Many people were sheltering in mosques and boarding schools.

Likud ministers to quit Cabinet

Benjamin Netanyahu, the new leader of Israel's Likud Party, today ordered Cabinet ministers from the party to quit Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government.

The ministers — including Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom — will hand in their letters of resignation at Sunday's weekly Cabinet meeting, said Netanyahu's spokesman.

Sharon is expected to appoint new Cabinet ministers from his Kadima Party to replace the outgoing Likud ministers. Israeli radio reported it is likely that Shimon Peres will be appointed foreign minister.

Also

Vote delay possible: Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Monday for the first time that he favors postponing the Jan. 25 parliamentary elections if Israel bars Jerusalem Palestinians from a vote already imperiled by violence and party infighting.

Politician released: Uganda's main opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, was released on bail Monday and greeted some 12,000 cheering supporters outside the Kampala courthouse where he is on trial for charges he says were fabricated to keep him out of next month's presidential election.

New leader: Rajnath Singh, 54, a former top elected official from India's largest state, Uttar Pradesh, was appointed head of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, India's main opposition party.

Compiled from The Associated Press