Israeli primary is a close race

Jerusalem

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni appeared to be leading her main rival, Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, in a tight primary race to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as leader of Israel's Kadima Party and likely succeed him as prime minister.

When polls closed, television news exit surveys indicated that Livni had swept to victory with a 10-point lead. But as counting of the nearly 40,000 votes progressed, the gap narrowed sharply. After five hours, Livni's camp said she had won by 2 percent, but Mofaz's backers called for the disqualification of certain ballot boxes. The outcome remained in doubt.

If Livni is ultimately declared the winner and succeeds in putting together a majority coalition of the 120-member Parliament, she will be the first woman to lead this country since Golda Meir in 1974. If she or Mofaz fails to do so, the country will go to general elections three months later. Polls show the right-ring Likud Party of Benjamin Netanyahu a strong contender in such a race.

Lagos, Nigeria

Oil-region rebels may be coalescing

Fighting between militant groups and the Nigerian military in the oil-rich Niger Delta entered a fifth day in the region's worst violence in two years, raising fears of an escalation in the unrest that has plagued the area.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, the most prominent of the insurgent groups in the region, has claimed responsibility for the daily attacks since Saturday on oil facilities run by various multinational companies. It has also threatened to pursue an "oil war" with continuing attacks on the Nigerian military and on foreign oil companies.

Previously ragtag militant groups, which often fought among themselves for influence and access to oil theft, have been galvanized into cooperating to fight the government of Nigeria, the world's eighth-largest oil exporter, and the fourth-largest supplier of crude oil to the United States.

Bangkok, Thailand

New Thai leader tied to old one

The ruling party closed ranks on Wednesday and elected a brother-in-law of the ousted leader Thaksin Shinawatra as Thailand's fourth prime minister in two years.

The new prime minister, Somchai Wongsawat, 61, has long experience as a judge and senior bureaucrat, but his marriage to Thaksin's younger sister is all but certain to ensure that opposition to the government will continue.

Thousands of dissidents have camped on the grounds of Government House since Aug. 26.

Thaksin, a telecommunications billionaire accused of corruption, was ousted as prime minister in a coup two years ago, largely because his popularity in rural areas was seen as a threat to the royalist elite, business leaders, academics and an assortment of activists who are want to replace the parliamentary system with a mostly appointed body.

Caracas, Venezuela

Russia and Cuba cooperate on space

Russia intends to share its space technology with Cuba, and has begun discussions on building a space center in the country, the Russian space agency said Wednesday.

The Russian Federal Space Agency chief Anatoly Perminov, on a tour of Latin America as part of a delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, said the two countries were working on a space-cooperation agreement and had considered ways of jointly using Earth remote sensing satellites and space-based telecommunication systems.

Discussions are also under way on Cuba's use of the Glonass satellite navigation system and on the space center.

Seattle Times news services