Defense drills praised amid Castro warning
HAVANA -- Cubans awoke to air raid sirens yesterday and practiced shooting, putting on gas masks, and doing duck-and-cover drills as the communist nation wrapped up a week of preparation after Fidel Castro's government warned against possible attacks from the United States. The activities, called the Strategic Bastion 2004 Exercise, were intended as an evaluation of how prepared Cuba is to face military attack during President Bush's second term. State-run newspapers reported yesterday that the exercises were a success and that they demonstrated Cuba's "capacity to resist and overcome an imperialist aggression." On Cuban television yesterday, Castro said, "The risks of [US] aggression are real." But US officials have repeatedly denied plans to attack Cuba. Last week, the State Department said the large-scale exercises in Cuba were held to distract people from the hardships of their lives. (AP)
RUSSIA
Putin says government must be strengthened
MOSCOW -- President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed his commitment to a stronger government and said yesterday that religious and ethnic extremist groups pose a threat and must be stopped. Putin has responded to the Beslan school seizure and other recent terrorist attacks that killed more than 440 people with tougher counterterrorism laws and by giving more power to the federal government. He has introduced legislation that abolished direct elections of provincial governors and given the president the right to nominate them. Critics have accused Putin of strengthening authoritarian controls and backtracking on Russia's post-Soviet democratic reforms, but he has dismissed the allegations. (AP)
CONGO
100,000 civilians flee as fighting continues
BUKAVU -- About 100,000 civilians in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo have fled a week of fighting between renegade soldiers and army loyalists, hiding deep in the forest where humanitarian workers cannot reach them, UN officials said yesterday. Clashes erupted again yesterday north of Kanyabayonga, where reinforcements sent by the Kinshasa-based central government have been fighting a force largely drawn from rebels backed by Rwanda during Congo's 1998-2002 war, said Eliane Nabaa, a UN spokeswoman. About 100,000 civilians are thought to have fled the fighting since Dec. 12 in Congo's eastern region on the Rwandan border, said Rachel Leflaive, a spokeswoman for UN humanitarian operations in Congo. (AP)
KUWAIT
Two US soldiers dead, two hurt in hit-and-run
KUWAIT CITY -- Two US soldiers were killed and two were injured in a traffic accident outside Kuwait City yesterday, the US military said in a statement. The statement said the hit-and-run crash occurred in the morning, and the injured soldiers were admitted to a civilian hospital. A Kuwaiti security official said the driver of the vehicle that hit the soldiers later surrendered to police. The soldiers' names were withheld pending notification of next of kin, the statement said. The US military and Kuwaiti authorities were investigating. (AP)
TURKMENISTAN
Poll turnout is low for Parliament vote
ASHGABAT -- Polling stations were nearly empty throughout the Parliament election yesterday in Turkmenistan, prompting officials to carry ballot boxes from door to door. But the government announced a nearly 80 percent turnout in the former Soviet republic, which is ruled by a former communist leader who has been deemed president for life. The 131 candidates contesting Parliament's 50 seats all represent the country's only party, the Democratic Party led by President Saparmurat Niyazov, and public organizations. Niyazov reduced Parliament's role in 2003, stripping it of the right to make constitutional changes. (AP)
