Mandela urges unity within ANC

Pretoria, South Africa

Nelson Mandela called for unity in South Africa's governing party at a rally marking his 90th birthday Saturday, saying the African National Congress was responsible for making him the person he is today.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner urged tens of thousands at the rally to focus their celebrations not on him but rather the party that helped bring about the end of white racist rule in South Africa.

Mandela was flanked by his successor to the South African presidency, Thabo Mbeki, and ANC president Jacob Zuma. The latter two fought bitterly over the party leadership last year and the battle seriously damaged the reputation of the party as it heads for general elections next year.

"Let no individual, section, faction or group ever regard itself as greater than the organization," Mandela said. "Our nation comes from a history of deep division and strife; let us never, through our deeds or words, take our people back down that road."

Seoul, South Korea

N. Korea to ejec S. Korean tourists

North Korea said today it will eject South Koreans from a mountain resort in the communist country, a further sign of fraying ties between the divided Koreas.

The move comes after a South Korean tourist was shot by a North Korean soldier at the resort last month, prompting strong protests from Seoul.

The North's military unit in the resort said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency that it would expel all South Koreans "we deem unnecessary" from the Diamond Mountain resort.

The North also warned it would take military actions against "even the slightest hostile actions" in the mountain resort and its military areas.

Gaza City, West Bank

Hamas cracks down on clan loyal to rival

The worst intra-Palestinian violence in more than a year left nine people dead and scores injured in Gaza on Saturday as the ruling Hamas party cracked down on a clan loyal to its rival, Fatah. Israel stepped in to help Fatah by allowing 180 of its men into Israel and treating and hospitalizing two dozen of its wounded.

A spokesman for the Hamas police in Gaza said that among the dead were two Hamas policemen and seven members of the Hillis clan. The spokesman put the number of wounded at 90, including at least a dozen children.

Hundreds of Hamas policemen raided the clan's neighborhood in a predawn fog in search of 11 suspects in a car bombing that killed five Hamas activists a week earlier.

Cairo, Egypt

Writer sentenced in absentia

A prominent dissident who has urged the U.S. to tie financial aid to Egypt to democratic reform was sentenced to two years in prison Saturday.

The dissident, Saad Eddin Ibrahim, 69, had harmed Egypt's reputation through his writings in the "foreign press," Judge Hisham Bashir ruled.

Ibrahim has been living in self-imposed exile since last summer, dividing his time among other Arab countries, the U.S. and Europe. He was not in court for the verdict.

Seattle Times news services