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U.N. envoy berates rebel for breaking cease-fire
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Published: November 30, 2008
JOMBA, Congo -- The United Nations' special envoy to Congo chided Congo's main rebel leader during a second round of peace talks yesterday for breaking a cease-fire, according to video footage taken inside the closed-door meeting.
The footage, taken by the U.N. and made available to journalists, shows an angry mediator, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, berating rebel leader Laurent Nkunda for starting an offensive along the border with Uganda last week, thus breaking a cease-fire in the middle of peace talks.
Since the first round of peace talks on Nov. 16, Nkunda's forces have clashed with the army several times, and rebels captured two border posts and a town last week.
"You are making me a laughingstock," Obasanjo told Nkunda, who was seated as the Nigerian leader paced angrily.
Death toll at 109 in Brazil from floods and mudslides
ITAJAI, Brazil -- Rescue workers have pulled nine more bodies from beneath mud and rubble in Brazil's flood-ravaged southern state of Santa Catarina, bringing the death toll to 109, the state civil-defense department said yesterday.
Most of the 109 victims were killed in mudslides, and 19 still were missing. At least 78,000 people in 14 cities have been driven from their homes, with many taking shelter in churches, schools, gymnasiums and other public buildings.
Officials have imposed a 10 p.m. curfew in Itajai to prevent looting.
Volunteers and troops worked around the clock distributing tons of medicine, food, water and clothes to people in a region where power outages contributed to a lack of drinking water and fresh food.
8 killed as masked gunmen attack restaurant in Mexico
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico -- Police say that at least 12 masked gunmen opened fire inside a restaurant in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, killing eight.
Alejandro Pariente, a spokesman for the Chihuahua state prosecutor's office, says that the gunmen arrived at the seafood restaurant in three cars Friday night, approached a group of people and opened fire.
Pariente said that no arrests have been made.
The attack comes days after police found the bodies of seven men who were killed on a school soccer field in an upscale neighborhood of Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas.
Russian officers are banned from talking about reforms
MOSCOW -- Russia's top military officer has banned officers from talking publicly about sweeping reforms to the armed forces, an apparent effort to stem growing discontent among the military's top brass, a newspaper reported yesterday.
The daily Kommersant also reported that six top-ranking officers have tendered their resignation amid Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov's reforms, aimed at updating Russia's 1.1 million-member armed forces.
Col. Alexander Drobyshevsky, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry, could not be immediately reached for comment. But Interfax and RIA-Novosti quoted him as calling the report of resignations a "brazen lie."
At least 7 killed by floods ravaging north Sri Lanka
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Floods caused by days of heavy rains killed at least seven people, left four soldiers missing and displaced tens of thousands in insurgency-ravaged northern Sri Lanka, officials said yesterday.
Keerthi Ekanayake of the Disaster Management Center said that the northern Jaffna peninsula and the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts were inundated and that nearly 8,000 houses have been destroyed.
Seven people were confirmed dead and more than 88,000 were displaced in the north alone, Ekanayake said.
Hamas claims responsibility for attack on Israeli base
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- The Islamic militant group Hamas claimed responsibility yesterday for a mortar attack on an Israeli army base that injured eight Israeli soldiers.
The mortar shells were fired from Hamas-ruled Gaza late Friday at an army base along Israel's border with Gaza. The Israeli military said that eight soldiers were hurt, including two who were in serious condition.
Another militant group, the Popular Resistance Committees, had earlier claimed responsibility. Some militants belong to both groups.
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