A Russian-U.S. crew – American astronaut Mike Fincke and Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Yuri Shargin – returned to Earth from the international space station Sunday in a pinpoint landing on the Kazakhstan steppe, and NASA’s chief said the United States wanted to continue the joint relationship on future missions to Mars.

Afghanistan: Karzai remains leader

President Hamid Karzai has won a majority of votes in Afghanistan’s election, clinching a five-year term and becoming the country’s first democratically elected leader, according to preliminary results released Sunday. With 94.3 percent of the votes counted, Karzai was winning 55.3 percent, or 4.2 million, of the votes cast, the Joint Electoral Management Body reported.

Israel: Refugee camp strike kills 5

In southern Gaza, Israeli aircraft and tanks launched a series of strikes in the Khan Younis refugee camp late Sunday and early today that killed five Palestinians and wounded 23 others.

China: North Korean defectors

As many as 19 people believed to be North Korean asylum seekers tried to dash into a South Korean consulate building in Beijing today, but only three succeeded, a diplomat and a news report said. Some of the rest were taken away by Chinese guards while others fled the scene, an Asian diplomat in Beijing and South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency said.

Pitcairn Island: Sex abuse trials

Six men were convicted of a string of sex attacks on Pitcairn Island, the isolated Pacific territory that is home to descendants of the 18th century Bounty mutineers, media on the island reported today. Among those convicted was the island’s mayor, Steve Christian, who claims to be a direct descendant of mutiny leader Fletcher Christian. He was cleared of four indecent assaults and one rape but was convicted of five other rapes, New Zealand’s TVNZ television network reported. The men were tried for a string of 51 sex attacks dating back up to 40 years on women and girls on the island.

From Herald news services