Hundreds seeking work feared dead

Bay of Bengal

Hundreds seeking

work feared dead

Hundreds of migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar are missing and feared dead in the Bay of Bengal after jumping from a boat and trying to swim to shore, Indian coast-guard officials and news agencies said today.

A coast-guard official in Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, said 99 migrants had been rescued but more than 300 were missing and presumed to have drowned.

Rescue efforts were continuing. An earlier statement said the migrants had left Bangladesh about 45 days ago, bound for Malaysia, where they were expecting to find work.

One survivor said their boat had drifted for about two weeks, apparently after losing power. Seven men reportedly had died at sea. "When finally we saw a lighthouse, many jumped into the water," the survivor said.

Little Andaman Island lies about 800 miles south of Bangladesh

Baghdad

America's 3 TV news

operations leave Iraq

Quietly, as the U.S. presidential election and its aftermath have dominated the news, America's three broadcast network news divisions have stopped sending full-time correspondents to Iraq.

"The war has gone on longer than a lot of news organizations' ability or appetite to cover it," said Jane Arraf, a former Baghdad bureau chief for CNN who has remained in Iraq as a contract reporter for The Christian Science Monitor.

Joseph Angotti, a former vice president of NBC News, said he could not recall any other time when all three major broadcast networks lacked correspondents in an active war zone that involved U.S. forces.

Except, of course, in Afghanistan, where 30,000 Americans are stationed, and where until recently no U.S. television network, broadcast or cable, maintained a full-time bureau.

At the same time that news organizations are trimming in Iraq, the television networks are trying to add newspeople in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with expectations that the Obama administration will focus on the conflict there.

Mexico City

7 killed in Tijuana

over weekend

Seven people have died in a series of shootings in the Mexican border city of Tijuana over the weekend.

Prosecutors in Baja California state say the deaths happened late Saturday and early Sunday in various parts of the city, across the border from San Diego, California.

Two of the dead were found shot to death in a home, two others in the trunk of a car, two in the street and one at a taco stand.

Bangkok, Thailand

Protesters surround

Parliament building

Thousands of supporters of exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra surrounded Thailand's Parliament today, daring lawmakers to pass through their ranks to deliver a speech outlining the new government's key policies.

With only a handful of opposition lawmakers entering the building, the morning opening of the legislature was postponed.

The protest group — which calls itself the Democratic Alliance against Dictatorship — is trying to pressure the government to dissolve the legislature and call fresh elections.

Mogadishu, Somalia

President stepping

down after 4 years

Somalia's president said today he is resigning as the head of his country's U.N.-backed government.

Abdullahi Yusuf made the announcement in a speech to parliament in Baidoa — one of the only towns controlled by the weak government.

He said he would hand in his resignation letter later today after four years at the helm of the administration. The government has failed to bring security to the war-ravaged nation.

"He decided to step down because he does not want to be seen as an obstacle to peace in Somalia," Abdirashid Sed, a confidant of Yusuf, told The Associated Press.

Also

Congo: Ugandan rebels are suspected in the deaths of 45 civilians in a Catholic church in eastern Congo, the Ugandan army said today.

Ghana election: The presidential runoff vote between Nana Akufo-Addo of the ruling party and opposition candidate John Atta Mills appeared to go smoothly Sunday, observers and analysts said.

Spanish exiles: Descendants of those exiled from Spain during the Spanish Civil War and the fascist dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco may claim Spanish citizenship under new legislation that went into effect this weekend.

India vote: No clear winner emerged in elections in India's troubled Jammu and Kashmir region, according to results released Sunday, but a new coalition government led by the regional National Conference party was likely to assume power in the assembly.

Seattle Times news services