EAST ASIA

BUSH SALUTES U.S. PARTNERSHIP WITH MONGOLIA

ULAN BATOR, Mongolia – “Both our nations were settled by pioneers on horseback who tamed the rugged plains,” President Bush said yesterday in Mongolia. “Both our nations shook the yoke of colonial rule and built successful free societies.”

Mr. Bush, the first American president the country, addressed lawmakers in the Parliament, known as the Great Hural, and met with the president and prime minister. Mr. Bush came to salute Mongolia’s democracy and its contribution of about 120 troops to Iraq.

– Associated Press

U.N. TORTURE INVESTIGATOR MAKES FIRST VISIT TO CHINA

BEIJING – The U.N. Human Rights Commission’s special investigator on torture, Manfred Nowak, began a tour of China yesterday, the culmination of a decade-long effort by the world body to visit the country’s detention centers to investigate allegations of human rights abuses.

– Associated Press

MIDDLE EAST

HEZBOLLAH CLASHES WITH ISRAELI TROOPS NEAR LEBANESE BORDER

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Hezbollah guerrillas fired mortars and rockets at Israeli troops yesterday, triggering an Israeli air strike and artillery shelling of suspected guerrilla hideouts. It was the first clash between the two sides in five months. The Israeli army confirmed that several missiles or mortars were fired from Lebanon into Chebaa Farms, an area where the borders of Lebanon, Syria, and Israel meet.

– Associated Press

PERSIAN GULF

AHMADINEJAD: IRAQ, IRAN ARE ‘ONE SOUL IN TWO BODIES’

TEHRAN, Iran – The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, emerged from meetings with his Iraqi counterpart, President Talabani, yesterday, saying the two countries have “one soul in two bodies.” Mr. Ahmadinejad said America, which has nearly 160,000 troops in Iraq in support of the government, wanted to block better ties between the Shiite Muslim-dominated nations.

– Associated Press

NORTH AFRICA

EGYPT’S MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD LOCKS UP 25% OF DECIDED SEATS

CAIRO, Egypt – The banned Muslim Brotherhood locked up about one-quarter of the parliamentary seats open in two rounds of balloting, according to results released yesterday. The final outcome – after a third round next week – will almost certainly do nothing to reverse the ruling National Democratic Party’s nearly quarter-century grip on power.

– Associated Press

EGYPTIAN FORCES KILL THREE SUSPECTS IN SINAI BOMBINGS

EL-ARISH, Egypt – Security forces yesterday killed a key suspect and two other militants accused in bombings of resorts in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula in the past year. The Interior Ministry identified one of the militants killed as Salem Khadr el-Shenoub. The other two militants were identified as el-Shenoub’s cousin and his brother-in-law.

– Associated Press

WESTERN EUROPE

MERKEL TO TAKE OFFICE

BERLIN – Angela Merkel becomes Germany’s first female chancellor today. Mrs. Merkel, 51, head of the conservative Christian Democrats, needs support from a majority of lawmakers in Germany’s 614-seat lower house to succeed outgoing Chancellor Schroeder. Her “grand coalition” with Mr. Schroeder’s center-left Social Democrats holds 448 seats, virtually assuring her victory.

– Associated Press

SPAIN HOLDS TRIAL OF ALLEGED ETA SUPPORTERS

MADRID, Spain – Fifty-six people went on trial yesterday on charges of engaging in activities for the armed Basque separatist group ETA. The trial is the largest ever in terms of the number of defendants to go before the Spanish tribunal that deals with affairs of state and terrorism cases, the National Court.

The case stems from an eight-year inquiry by Spain’s leading anti-terror investigator, Baltasar Garzon.

– Associated Press