World Datelines

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Sep 9, 2007 | by Compiled

Libya: Darfur peace talks

SIRTE -- The U.N. secretary-general said Saturday that Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi had promised to do all he could to bring all of Darfur's rebel groups to a new round of peace talks with the Sudanese government.

Ban Ki-moon met with Gadhafi in his hometown of Sirte two days after the U.N. chief and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir announced the talks would be held in Libya starting Oct. 27.

"I asked him and urged him to demonstrate all possible leadership and initiative and influence to bring all representatives of the movements" to the peace table, Ban told journalists. "And he said he would do all (he could) to bring them all to the negotiating table."

Afghanistan: Bombings increase

KHOST -- Taliban insurgents carried out 103 suicide bombings in Afghanistan in the first eight months of 2007, a 69 percent increase over the same period last year, according to a U.N. report that is expected to be issued publicly on Monday.

The record number of attacks killed more than 200 people, 80 percent of them civilians. Afghanistan trails only Iraq in the number of suicide attacks, where 290 suicide bombings were carried out from January through late July, he said.

Colombia: 11 bodies found

CALI -- The Red Cross said Saturday it has recovered all 11 bodies presumed to be lawmakers who were killed in a shootout while held hostage by leftist rebels.

The still-unidentified cadavers were found in an undisclosed area whose coordinates were provided by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement. The corpses were to be transported today by helicopter to the southern city of Cali, where forensic experts supervised by the Organization of American States will try to untangle the confused events surrounding the deaths.

Germany: Terror network?

BERLIN -- Three Islamic terror suspects arrested on suspicion of planning massive bombings in Germany may have been part of a larger network involving up to 50 people, an official said Saturday.

The three, arrested Tuesday in a raid on a vacation residence in central Germany, had allegedly stockpiled enough hydrogen peroxide to build bombs more powerful than those that killed 191 commuters in Madrid in 2004 and 52 in London in 2005. Officials said all three attended terror training camps in Pakistan last year.

German authorities believe two German converts and a Turk were only the leading tip of the planning, said Petra Kneuer, spokeswoman for the Federal Prosecutor's Office.

Israel: Top leaders to meet

JERUSALEM -- The Palestinian president and the Israeli prime minister are to meet early next week in Jerusalem ahead of an expected visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and key meetings of international mediators, officials said Saturday.

The two leaders last held talks in Jerusalem in August. They have been meeting regularly in recent months as part of a U.S.-backed effort to revive Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking and convene an international peace conference expected in November in Washington.

Tanzania: 27 killed in bus crash

ARUSH -- At least 27 people were killed in a bus accident on Saturday in southwestern Tanzania, a senior police officer said.

A bus tried to overtake a car and crashed into a truck about 31 miles from the southwestern town of Mbeya, said Stephen Mwinamila, the regional traffic commander. Mwinamila said two pedestrians were among those killed. Forty-three people were seriously injured and have been admitted to Mbeya Hospital, he said.