PERSIAN GULF

AL QAEDA IN IRAQ CLAIMS IT DOWNED COPTER; TWO MARINES WERE KILLED

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed yesterday it “downed a Super Cobra attack helicopter in Ramadi with a Strella rocket, thanks be to God.” Two Marines died in the AH-1W Super Cobra’s crash Wednesday near Ramadi, and an American general said witnesses saw the aircraft take ground fire and break up in the air. Another American soldier died yesterday in a roadside bombing at Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. The soldier’s name was not released, but the American command said he was assigned to the Army’s 43rd Military Police Brigade.

– Associated Press

EAST AFRICA

FOURTH DAY OF VIOLENCE IN ETHIOPIA KILLS THREE, WOUNDS 12

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – Riot police trying to put down a fourth day of protests against Ethiopia’s disputed elections killed three people yesterday and wounded 12 others, including children. The violence came a day after police shot and killed at least 31 people – a death toll that rose after eight people died overnight Wednesday and in surgery, doctors said.

– Associated Press

TROOPS MASS AT DISPUTED BORDER

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – The Ethiopian prime minister, Meles Zenawi, massed thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks near the disputed border with Eritrea yesterday, amid fears of a new war in the Horn of Africa. The military build-up was matched by Eritrea, whose authoritarian regime has also imposed draconian restrictions on a U.N. force monitoring a crucial buffer zone.

– The Daily Telegraph

CENTRAL ASIA

CANDIDATES IN AZERBAIJAN ELECTION ALLEGE PRESSURE TO WITHDRAW

BAKU, Azerbaijan – Nearly a quarter of the candidates registered for Sunday’s election have dropped out, according to the Central Election Commission, and human rights groups and opposition activists allege it’s due to official pressure.

– Associated Press

EAST ASIA

CHINA SAYS KOREAN NUCLEAR TALKS WILL RESUME NEXT WEEK

BEIJING – China yesterday called for progress in efforts to get North Korea to scrap nuclear weapons development in exchange for aid as it announced that six-party talks will resume Wednesday in Beijing.

– Associated Press

NORTH AMERICA

CANADA BREAKS UP SUSPECTED TERROR CELL, SENDS THREE TO U.S.

TORONTO – Canadian agents this summer broke up a suspected terrorist cell in Toronto. The cell was made up of four Algerian men who had applied for refugee status in Canada and were alleged members of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, which is banned in Canada and Algeria. The group was dismantled by CSIS and Canada Border Services Agency agents, working with police, a spokeswoman for Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Barbara Campion, said yesterday. Three of the men were deported this summer to U.S. border crossings because they had entered Canada from America.

– Associated Press

WESTERN EUROPE

EUROPEANS TO INVESTIGATE REPORTS OF SECRET CIA PRISONS

BRUSSELS, Belgium – The European Union said yesterday it will investigate allegations the CIA set up secret jails in eastern Europe and elsewhere to interrogate terror suspects, and the Red Cross demanded access to any prisoners. Human Rights Watch said it has evidence that the CIA transported suspects captured in Afghanistan to Poland and Romania.The two countries denied the allegations. American officials refused to confirm or deny the claims.

– Associated Press

INTELLIGENCE CHIEF: ITALIAN AGENCY HAD NO ROLE IN URANIUM DOCUMENT

ROME – Italy’s spy chief denied that Italian intelligence had any hand distributing a dossier that claimed Saddam Hussein tried to buy uranium in Niger. Italy’s chairman of an oversight committee on secret services, Enzo Bianco, said that the intelligence chief, Nicolo Pollari, and an aide to Premier Berlusconi, Gianni Letta, briefed lawmakers after a report alleging Italy had passed the dossier to Britain and America knowing that it was fake.

– Associated Press