Thirty suspected Taliban members were killed on the eve of NATO taking charge of multinational forces in southern Afghanistan in what will be the first time the alliance has conducted land combat operations, officials said Sunday. A NATO-led force, made up mostly of British, Canadian and Dutch troops, took over in the south early today from a U.S.-led coalition that was first deployed nearly five years ago to unseat the hardline Taliban regime for harboring Osama bin Laden.
Mexico: Candidate urges protests
Leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called Sunday for hundreds of thousands of his supporters to build permanent protest camps to cripple Mexico City until the disputed presidential election is decided. If Lopez Obrador supporters heed his call, blockades could have a catastrophic effect on already-chaotic city traffic, hurting downtown commerce. The former Mexico City mayor finished slightly behind his conservative opponent, ex-Energy Secretary Felipe Calderon, in the July 2 election, and says a vote-by-vote recount will expose fraud that tilted the election.
Iran: Out with foreign words
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered government and cultural bodies to use modified Persian words to replace foreign words, mostly from Western languages, that have crept into the language, such as “pizzas,” which will now be known as “elastic loaves,” state media reported Saturday. Among other changes, a “chat” will become a “short talk” and a “cabin” will be renamed a “small room,” according to the official Web site of the Farhangestan Zaban e Farsi, or Persian Academy.
Venezuelan leader gets top honor
Iran awarded Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez its highest state medal, the Islamic Republic Medal, on Sunday for supporting Tehran in its nuclear standoff with the international community, while Chavez urged the world to rise up and defeat the United States, state-run media in both countries reported.
Somalia: Militants release sailors
Twenty-five sailors who were taken hostage in April off Somalia’s lawless coast were released Sunday after more than $800,000 in ransom was paid, a Somali militia commander said. He did not say who paid the ransom. A South Korean official in Africa said Saturday that the hostages were eight South Koreans, nine Indonesians, five Vietnamese and three Chinese.
From Herald news services
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