Venezuela gunmen fire on student protesters

Caracas, Venezuela

Gunmen opened fire on students returning from a march Wednesday in which 80,000 people denounced President Hugo Chávez's attempts to expand his power. At least eight people were injured, including one by gunfire, officials said.

National Guard troops gathered outside the Central University of Venezuela, the nation's largest and a center for opposition to Chávez's government. Venezuelan law bars state security forces from entering the campus, but they could be called in if the university requests them.

The violence broke out after anti-Chávez demonstrators marched peacefully to the Supreme Court to protest constitutional changes that Venezuelans will consider in a referendum next month.

Rome

Italy, Romania join forces on migrants

Italy and Romania agreed to implement new measures to deal with the influx of Romanian immigrants after a wave of violent crimes blamed on Romanians sparked outrage among Italians.

Italian Premier Romano Prodi and Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu also said they had written a joint letter to the European Commission asking for the EU to help nations deal with EU migration.

As part of the bilateral measures, Romania will send more police to Italy; the countries will form a joint police force and border police from both countries will better coordinate their work; Bucharest will beef up its consular network in Italy; and new measures will be introduced in Italy to improve social integration of newly arrived immigrants, Prodi said.

San'a, Yemen

Court convicts 32 al-Qaida suspects

A Yemeni court on Wednesday convicted 32 al-Qaida suspects of planning attacks on oil and gas installations in the country, sentencing them to prison terms of up to 15 years. Four others were acquitted.

Six of those convicted remain at large and were tried in absentia.

The prosecution had charged the group, all from Yemen, with forming an armed gang and planning attacks against oil installations with rocket-propelled grenades in September 2006.

Moscow

Revolution holiday is remembered

Russia's remaining communists celebrated the 90th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution with pomp, seizing on a chance to energize supporters ahead of December elections.

Carrying the red Soviet and Bolshevik flags and a huge red banner reading "Long Live Socialist Revolution," more than 10,000 supporters marched Wednesday in central Moscow.

In Soviet times, Nov. 7 was celebrated with grandiose military parades on Red Square and mass rallies. The holiday was renamed and scaled back after the Soviet collapse, but communists continued to celebrate the old holiday.

Also

An Ecuadorean couple were found guilty of human trafficking and sentenced to 12 years in prison for their role in an August 2005 shipwreck that killed 94 U.S.-bound migrants, a court official said Wednesday.

Seattle Times news services