KHARTOUM, Sudan – A senior Ugandan official said today that Sudanese Vice President John Garang has been confirmed dead in a helicopter crash in southern Sudan. Garang was a former rebel leader who is a key figure in a fledgling peace deal between the predominantly Arab Muslim government and the Christian south.
Ugandan and Sudanese forces had been searching for John Garang’s helicopter since Sunday. Uganda’s president said it had crashed in bad weather in the border region between the two countries.
Search crews had reached the crash site earlier today and found a body they believed was that of Garang, a U.N. official in Khartoum said.
Iran: Threatens nuclear restart
Iran threatened Sunday to restart uranium reprocessing work at its Isfahan Nuclear Conversion Facility if European negotiators do not immediately offer a promised package of incentives to entice Tehran to freeze its nuclear program. A senior European diplomat said the negotiators from Britain, France and Germany were just days away from making Tehran a “generous” offer that could include guarantees that Iran will not be invaded if it agrees to permanently halt uranium enrichment.
India: Rains hamper relief effort
Authorities warned residents to remain at home Sunday after heavy rains fell again across Bombay and surrounding areas hammered last week by devastating floods, with more than 900 people now reported dead. Cleanup efforts and the distribution of food supplies to needy residents were slowed by the renewed monsoon rains, which began early Sunday.
Australia: Navy ship scuttled
The HMAS Brisbane, a decommissioned U.S.-built Australian naval destroyer, was scuttled Sunday off the Sunshine Coast with explosives, then sank slowly to the bottom of Pacific Ocean to become the newest diving attraction in Australia’s Queensland state.
Israel: Response to pullout attack
Israel would suspend its Gaza withdrawal, set to begin Aug. 17, and launch a massive ground offensive if Palestinian militants attack Israeli soldiers and settlers during the pullout, Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim said Sunday. Israeli officials estimate that about half of the 8,500 Gaza settlers will leave voluntarily before the forcible evacuation date, and the rest will resist.
Honduras: Teens allegedly kill agent
A gang member and his bodyguard – both age 13 – have been arrested in the killing of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent during an apparent bungled robbery, a Honduran official said Sunday. DEA Special Agent Timothy Markey was shot to death on Friday while on vacation visiting a popular Roman Catholic shrine in Tegucigalpa.
Afghanistan: Weapons seized
Thousands of rockets, mortars and antiaircraft ammunition were seized in central Afghanistan – in Ghazni province’s Khogyani district – on Saturday in the largest cache of militant weapons discovered in months, Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammed Saher Azimi said Sunday.
From Herald news services
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