Former premier wins in landslide

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Former premier wins in landslide

An election official says the political alliance headed by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has won a landslide victory in Bangladesh's first election in seven years.

Election official Humayun Kabir said in televised comments today that Hasina's alliance has won a two-thirds majority in the 300-seat Parliament. The election was held Monday.

Accra, Ghana

Opposition holds narrow lead in vote

Opposition leader John Atta Mills was leading in Ghana's presidential election Monday, and his supporters poured into the streets to claim victory after a local radio station said he would be the West African nation's next leader.

Both sides have accused the other of irregularities, and court challenges or demands for recounts are expected, with some analysts predicting Atta Mills could win by less than 50,000 votes in the extremely tight contest.

Bangkok, Thailand

Protesters ring Thai Parliament

Thailand's government was forced to change the venue of its key policy speech today as thousands of protesters loyal to exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra surrounded Parliament.

The new government's core policies were to be unveiled at the Foreign Ministry, where enough MPs had gathered to begin parliamentary proceedings, said Buranaj Samutarak, spokesman for the ruling Democrat Party.

The protesters, vowing to ring the Parliament building until their demands for new general elections are met, prevented the government from delivering the mandated speech Monday.

Tehran, Iran

Rights advocate's office raided

Authorities stormed the office of Iran's Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Shirin Ebadi, on Monday, seizing her computers and clients' documents.

Ebadi is the country's most prominent human-rights activist and an outspoken government critic. Monday's move appeared to be part of an effort to limit her activities ahead of presidential elections in June.

Also

Woman in trunk: Scottish police Monday charged a 35-year-old man with attempting to kill a nurse who was locked in the trunk of her car, where police say she may have been kept for up to 10 days.

Tainted milk: The companies whose tainted milk products sickened nearly 300,000 children and were blamed in the deaths of six will likely pay $160 million in compensation to victims' families, a state-run newspaper said today.

Seattle Times news services