WORLD BRIEFS
World briefs: Saturday, June 21, 2008
Published: June 21, 2008
ASIA
Indians consider nuke deal
NEW DELHI — India's leaders considered pushing ahead with a landmark U.S.-India nuclear energy deal Friday, a move that could bring down the government and lead to early elections, officials said.
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Drug ingredient supply destroyed
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodian authorities working with Australian police destroyed an enormous stockpile of 33 tons of safrole-rich oil, a key ingredient used in producing the synthetic drug Ecstasy, officials said Friday.
The oil, which is extracted from the roots of the sassafras tree, was enough to produce more than 200 million Ecstasy pills worth hundreds of millions of dollars, said Lour Ramin, secretary-general of Cambodia's National Authority for Combatting Drugs.
AFRICA
Runoff ahead despite violence
HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe's opposition leader called on his supporters Friday to challenge President Robert Mugabe's rule in next week's runoff election despite a "wave of brutality” he says the government has unleashed.
Even as Morgan Tsvangirai urged Zimbabweans to have the courage to vote in the face of a violent crackdown, a judge ordered the No. 2 opposition leader held on treason and other charges until after the election.
Civilians killed in skirmish
MOGADISHU, Somalia — More than 40 civilians were killed in the Somali capital this week, the United Nations' humanitarian agency said Friday.
About 20 civilians were killed Thursday as Ethiopian and Somali soldiers battled insurgents in Mogadishu, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in its weekly report.
Also in the world ...
•FATAL CRASH: A Thai army helicopter crashed in an insurgency-plagued area of in Thailand's Yala province Friday, killing all 10 people on board.
•ARTIFACTS BACK: Mexico recovered more than 900 pre-Columbian artifacts seized from smugglers in the U.S. and Canada, including 800-year-old fiber sandals, spears and hunting bows looted from nomadic caves, officials said Friday.
From Wire Services
Related Topics:
Illegal Drugs, Politics, War and Conflict, World Politics, Elections and Voting, Indian Politics, Ecstasy, African Politics, Asia-Pacific Politics

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