Oil tankers may face attacks by rockets
WARRI -- Militants who kidnapped nine foreign oil workers in attacks that forced a 20 percent cut in Nigerian crude exports vowed yesterday to escalate the violence, threatening for the first time to fire rockets at international oil tankers. While the military said tankers in Nigerian waters were safe, the country is reeling from militant attacks that blasted oil and gas pipelines Saturday, that damaged a key oil loading terminal and that halted the flow of more than 500,000 barrels a day. Nigeria is Africa's leading oil exporter and the United States' fifth-largest supplier, usually exporting 2.5 million barrels daily. Efie Alari, who identified himself as commander of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, said by telephone yesterday that his group was poised to attack foreign oil tankers offshore. ''We'll use our rockets on the ships to stop them from taking our oil," Alari said. (AP)
CHINA
A new toxic spill cuts water supplies
BEIJING -- A chemical spill on a river in southern China river has cut water supplies to 20,000 people for at least four days, an official Chinese newspaper said today. China Daily reported that a power plant on the upper reaches of the Yuexi River in Sichuan province was to blame for the pollution, which prompted environmental officials to suspend water supplies to Guanyin since Wednesday. Water was being trucked in to residents, it said. An employee with a local water supply company noticed the river water had turned yellow last Tuesday, the paper said. It did not give the name of the power plant say when the spill occurred. The spill followed a spate of pollution of rivers in recent months, the most serious being an explosion at chemical plant in November that dumped chemicals into the Songhua River, the source of water for tens of millions in northeastern China and Russia. (AP)
KENYA
US confirms deaths of 10 off Djibouti
NAIROBI -- The US military confirmed yesterday that 10 US troops had been killed when two transport helicopters crashed into the sea last week off the coast of the African nation of Djibouti. The CH-53E choppers, carrying a dozen crew and troops from a US counterterrorism force, went down Friday in the Gulf of Aden, near the northern coastal town of Ras Siyyan. Two crew members were rescued. The search for the others was called off Saturday when the military said it had accounted for the 10 troops but it declined to reveal their fate until family members were notified. The troops included US Marines and two members of the Air Force, according to a statement by the US-led Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa. Names of those killed were being withheld, according to the statement. (AP)
VENEZUELA
Chávez may seek to end term limits
CARACAS -- President Hugo Chávez said yesterday that he may seek to lift presidential term limits if opposition parties boycott the December presidential elections. ''I might sign a decree calling for a popular referendum -- Do you agree that Chávez should run for a third term in 2013?" Chávez said during his weekly broadcast. ''It's not a firm decision." (Reuters)
EGYPT
A dissident seeks to suspend sentence
CAIRO -- Lawyers of an Egyptian opposition leader who was sentenced to five years in prison on forgery charges have filed an appeal and demanded suspension of his sentence. The trial of Ayman Nour, who came in a distant second to President Hosni Mubarak in September elections badly strained US-Egyptian relations. Nour's lawyers said they filed their appeal Saturday on grounds that the court did not provide due process and that the trial was political, not judicial. (AP) 