Taliban attacks leave 4 dead

Kabul, Afghanistan

Taliban attacks killed two British soldiers and two Afghan police officers Wednesday in southern Afghanistan, while nearly 30 militants were killed elsewhere, authorities said.

The two British soldiers were killed in an explosion as they patrolled in southern Helmand province, the UK's defense ministry said. Earlier Wednesday, insurgents detonated a remote-controlled bomb under a police vehicle in Helmand province, killing two police and wounding three, said Abdul Manan, a local official.

Also in Helmand, Afghan and coalition forces called in air strikes Wednesday after coming under attack during a combat patrol, the U.S.-led coalition said. It said "more than 24" insurgents were killed.

London

Origin of disease outbreak found

Investigators have determined a pipe at a research laboratory in southern England caused last month's outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported Wednesday.

Britain's Health and Safety Executive found there were biosecurity lapses at the facility in Pirbright, Surrey, the BBC reported. The investigators' official report was due to be published Friday.

Virus traces were found in a pipe running from Merial's lab to a treatment plant operated by the government-run lab, the BBC reported, adding the pipe may have been damaged by tree roots.

Tokyo

Cabinet minister asked to resign

Just a week after naming a new Cabinet in an effort to regain public trust, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was hit Wednesday with another scandal — calls for his environment minister to resign over misreported political funds.

It was the sixth scandal involving a Cabinet member in Abe's first year. Four have resigned — including one this week — and one killed himself in May.

In the latest fracas, Environment Minister Ichiro Kamoshita acknowledged an organization managing his political funds borrowed $103,000 from him, but reported getting only $86,200. Later the group reported borrowing a total of $200,000, but he said he loaned it only $130,000.

Kamoshita said Wednesday that the discrepancies were merely a mistake. "I will look into what had happened," he said.

Guatemala City

2 municipal council candidates killed

Two candidates from Nobel Laureate and presidential hopeful Rigoberta Menchu's political party were shot dead Wednesday amid a wave of campaign-related violence that has claimed about 50 lives.

Wenceslao Ayapan, 35, and Esmeralda Uyun, 26, of the Encuentro Por Guatemala Party were killed by assailants with automatic weapons, said party official Armando Sanchez, who is running for a seat in congress.

The victims were running for municipal council seats in San Raymundo, 20 miles north of Guatemala City.

This has been the most violent campaign in Guatemala's recent history. About 50 politicians, activists and their relatives have been killed during the past four months.

Brasília, Brazil

Committee votes to expel Senate leader

An ethics committee voted Wednesday in favor of expelling the leader of Brazil's Senate, taking the first step toward ousting an ally of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to be caught up in allegations of corruption.

The 11-4 vote followed months of allegations that Senate President Renan Calheiros, whose Brazilian Democratic Movement Party is part of Silva's ruling coalition, accepted some $8,000 a month from the Mendes Junior construction company in exchange for helping it win government contracts. Both Calheiros and the company have denied the allegations.

Also

Russia's FSB internal security service killed two armed men Wednesday whom it described as Islamist extremists as they tried to cross a mountainous border from Georgia.

Seattle Times news services