Rights groups: Satellite images, witnesses reports show heavy shelling in Sri Lanka war zone

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Satellite images of Sri Lanka’s war zone along with witness accounts indicate the government has shelled the densely populated area in recent days despite its repeated denials, a human rights group said Wednesday.

UN condemns ‘bloodbath’ in northern Sri Lanka; doctor estimates up to 1,000 civilians killed

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Volunteers dug mass graves in the marshes of Sri Lanka’s northern war zone Monday as they buried hundreds of civilians killed in artillery attacks that the U.N. characterized as a “bloodbath.”

UN calls large-scale killing of civilians in Sri Lanka shelling barrage a “bloodbath”

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The United Nations called the killing of hundreds of ethnic Tamil civilians in a weekend artillery attack in northern Sri Lanka a “bloodbath” amid reports Monday that the war zone was heavily shelled for a second straight night.

Booming cocaine trade fortifies revived Peruvian rebels, stymies military offensive

UNION MANTARO, Peru — The last town on a rutted dirt road in Peru’s most prolific cocaine-producing highland valley, Union Mantaro has no police post, no church and no health clinic. Its 600 people lack running water and electricity.

Sri Lanka artillery barrage kills 378 civilians, wounds at least 1,100, government doctor says

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — An unrelenting hail of artillery in Sri Lanka’s war zone killed at least 378 civilians, according to a government doctor who survived the attack as shells flew near the makeshift hospital. More than 100 of the victims were children, the U.N. said Sunday.

Sri Lankan artillery barrage kills 378 civilians, wounds over 1,100, government doctor says

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — An overnight artillery barrage in Sri Lanka’s northern war zone killed at least 378 civilians and wounded more than 1,100, a government doctor said Sunday, calling it the bloodiest day he had seen in the army’s offensive against the Tamil Tiger rebels.

A government health official says death toll in Sri Lanka shell attack rises to 378

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A Sri Lankan health official says the civilian death toll from a massive artillery barrage overnight in the island’s northern war zone has risen to 378.

Sri Lankan health official says at least 257 civilians have been killed by shelling

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — An overnight artillery barrage in Sri Lanka’s northern war zone killed at least 257 civilians, a government doctor said Sunday, calling it the bloodiest day he had seen in the government’s offensive against the Tamil Tiger rebels.

Nino Burdzhanadze, leading foe of Georgia’s fiery president, an admirer of Britain’s Thatcher

TBILISI, Georgia — As street protests threaten to drive Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili from office, one of the leading candidates to replace him is a former ally and fellow architect of the Rose Revolution that brought him to power.

Opposition vows stronger protests to demand Georgian president’s ouster, but agrees to talk

TBILISI, Georgia — A top opposition leader in Georgia vowed Friday to press ahead with “stronger and more serious” street protests to demand the resignation of President Mikhail Saakashvili.

Official: Chadian soldiers kill 125 rebels in battle; rebels deny claim

N’DJAMENA, Chad — The Chadian government said the army defeated a rebel column that was heading to the capital and was pursuing other fighters, but rebels denied this Friday.

Sri Lankan military: Soldiers capture rebel fortification after heavy fighting

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan soldiers fought heavy battles with separatist Tamil Tigers early Thursday, capturing an earthen fortification in the shrinking rebel enclave, the military said.

Sri Lanka says captured video shows rebels disguising themselves as civilians

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Video footage captured from Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels showed their fighters forcing civilians to assist their war effort and depicted one insurgent in street clothes firing a heavy machine gun, the military said Thursday.

Moscow, NATO seek to limit damage to relations after expelling each other’s envoys

MOSCOW — Russia and NATO sought to limit damage to their relationship Wednesday, after expelling each other’s envoys and despite Moscow’s criticism of military exercises in former Soviet Georgia.

Catholic cardinal says IRA dissidents ‘bring shame’ to those who want to unite Ireland

DUBLIN — IRA splinter groups still plotting gun and bomb attacks in Northern Ireland are shaming the people of Ireland and betraying the memory of its patriot dead, the leader of the island’s 4 million Catholics declared Wednesday.

Sri Lanka prime minister says Tamil Tiger leader trapped inside four-kilometer stretch

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s prime minister said the reclusive leader of the separatist Tamil Tigers was trapped in a tiny stretch of coastline surrounded by government troops and vowed Tuesday not to let him slip away.

Sri Lankan military says it has caused heavy damage to rebels in new fighting

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan soldiers broke through rebel defenses and advanced further into the Tamil Tigers’ last remaining territory, inflicting heavy damage on the beleaguered insurgents, the military said Tuesday.

Muslim rebels attacks banana plantation in southern Philippines, 9 wounded, 1 missing

COTABATO, Philippines — About 200 Muslim guerrillas attacked a sprawling banana plantation with grenades and machine guns in the southern Philippines on Sunday, burning 50 houses and wounding at least nine people, officials and rebels said.

Rebel Web site accuses Sri Lanka military of killing 64 civilians in hospital shelling

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan forces shelled a makeshift hospital in the war zone, killing 64 civilians despite a pledge to stop using heavy weapons in its battle with the Tamil Tigers, a rebel-linked Web site said.

Sri Lanka military: Latest fighting kills 14 rebels amid rising concern for trapped civilians

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan soldiers killed 14 Tamil Tiger rebels in the latest gunbattles in the insurgents’ ever-shrinking northern territory, amid growing international pressure to safeguard 50,000 civilians trapped in the war zone.

Tamil Tiger political chief says rebels will not surrender, denies holding civilians hostage

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The Tamil Tigers said Thursday they would never surrender to the advancing Sri Lankan forces, as the government issued a similarly defiant vow to continue the bloody civil war until the rebels’ leader is captured or killed.

Montana fires a warning shot over states’ rights, tries to trigger a battle over guns

HELENA, Mont. — Montana is trying to trigger a battle over gun control — and perhaps make a larger point about what many folks in this ruggedly independent state regard as a meddlesome federal government.

Former Sri Lanka rebel says insurgents killed hundreds of civilians trying to flee

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Tamil Tiger rebels massacred hundreds of civilians — including 200 people from one village — as they tried to flee the war zone in northern Sri Lanka, a former rebel official said in an interview broadcast Wednesday.

Roadside bomb and shooting kill 10 soldiers in southeastern Turkey; Kurdish rebels suspected

ISTANBUL — A roadside bomb killed nine Turkish soldiers in an armored personnel carrier Wednesday in southeastern Turkey, making it the deadliest attack by suspected Kurdish rebels in six months, officials said.

Web site, doctor report Sri Lanka shelling in war zone despite pledge to cease such attacks

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Government forces fired barrages of artillery into the northern war zone, killing at least 11 civilians, a day after it pledged to stop such attacks because of the risk to innocent lives, a rebel-linked Web site and a local doctor said.

Sri Lankan military says it captured rebel fortifications, killed 7 rebels in new fighting

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The Sri Lankan military pressed ahead Tuesday with its offensive against the beleaguered Tamil Tigers, breaking through a defensive fortification and killing at least seven rebels, the military said.

Sri Lanka to stop airstrikes, artillery attacks on rebels amid pressure to protect civilians

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka agreed to stop firing heavy weapons into the northern war zone to safeguard thousands of civilians trapped there, but resisted growing pressure for a cease-fire in its war with the Tamil Tiger rebels.

Sri Lankan troops squeeze separatists as 2 top rebels surrender and civilians flee battle

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan troops closed in on separatist rebels in an ever-shrinking coastal war zone, as two prominent guerrillas surrendered and tens of thousands of refugees clutching their belongings fled the fighting in boats.

2 Sri Lankan rebel officials surrender to troops as thousands of civilians flee fighting

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Two Tamil Tiger officials surrendered to the Sri Lankan army on Wednesday, and refugees joined a stream of more than 80,000 people the government says have fled a war zone that appeared to shrink by the hour.

Thousands more civilians flee as Sri Lankan army pushes into last rebel enclave

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Thousands more civilians fled Sri Lanka’s war zone Wednesday as troops pushed deeper into the Tamil Tiger rebels’ sliver of remaining territory and the government vowed again that the end to the 25-year-old conflict was near.