WORLD BRIEFS
World briefs: Saturday, June 21, 2008

Published: June 21, 2008

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.

The debate among India's leaders revived hopes that the nuclear accord, seen as a cornerstone in the budding partnership between New Delhi and Washington, could be clinched before President Bush leaves office in January.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and ruling Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi were holding informal discussions Friday with their coalition partners about whether to force a confrontation with opponents of the deal.

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.

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