Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The head of Afghanistan's Taliban, Mullah Mohammed Omar, ordered a ban on Saturday on access to the Internet. The decree, read on the hard-line Islamic group's Radio Shariat, said the only permitted Internet connection would be in the Office of the Supreme Leader "to be accessed by a trusted man."
Brazil
FORTALEZA — Two Brazilian security guards have confessed to taking part in the killings of six Portuguese tourists, whose bodies were unearthed Friday at a seafront bar. Jose Ferreira and Leonardo Sousa dos Santos, who were employed at the bar, said the bar owner had plotted the robbery and murder of the Portuguese a month ago.
China
BEIJING — A giant panda named "Number 20" gave birth to twin cubs Saturday in southwestern China, the second pair born in the country in the past week. The 11-year-old mother was artificially inseminated at the Wolong Giant Panda Protection Research Center in Sichuan province, the government's Xinhua News Agency said.
France
PARIS — French actor Philippe Leotard, who worked with some of France's top directors and was a winner of the prestigious Cesar award, died Saturday in a Paris clinic. He was 60. Culture Minister Catherine Tasca issued a statement paying tribute to "the passionate, vibrant actor" that Leotard was.
Great Britain
LONDON — Hard-liner Iain Duncan Smith is set to win the Conservative Party leadership election by a margin of three to one, according to a poll published Saturday. Smith, the party's defense spokesman, won the backing of 76 percent of party members surveyed in an ICM poll conducted for the Sunday Telegraph newspaper. Only 24 percent said they would vote for his rival, former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke, according to the poll.
Guyana
GEORGETOWN — The killing of three suspects by Guyanese police — and the fatal shooting by officers of two people protesting the deaths — reveal a pattern of excessive police force, Amnesty International said. On Saturday, President Bharrat Jagdeo's office acknowledged receiving a letter from the London-based human-rights group but declined comment. Jagdeo has promised a full investigation into the Aug. 14 killings.
Italy
ROME — The editing of a documentary about the violent protests at last month's G-8 summit in Italy is nearing completion but probably won't be ready for the start of the Venice Film Festival as hoped, organizers said Saturday.
Ivory Coast
YAMOUSSOUKRO — Doctors in Ivory Coast blamed rat poison in maize broth for killing at least 23 people in the West African country and leaving many others in a serious condition. The broth was prepared for sale by a woman in the central village of Labokro on Thursday and several hours later people who had drunk it began to vomit violently and suffer severe diarrhea — then they started vomiting blood.
Nepal
KATMANDU — Bowing to pressure from Maoist leaders, Nepal on Saturday toughened laws governing the use of alcohol — establishing the legal drinking age at 24, restricting sales and banning advertisements. No special permits are required to sell alcohol in Nepal, but the government said as of Oct. 1, sales will be limited to a few stores and only for three hours a day. The government also will ban alcohol advertisements on television, radio, newspapers and in public places, the Interior Ministry said.
Netherlands
THE HAGUE — The U.N.'s chief war crimes prosecutor will appeal the 46-year prison sentence given to a 53-year-old Bosnian Serb general and ask for a life sentence instead, a Dutch newspaper reported Saturday. NRC Handelsblad quoted Carla Del Ponte as saying she wants the longer sentence for Radislav Krstic, who was convicted on Aug. 2 of genocide, even though the general would be unlikely to live past his current sentence.
Russia
MOSCOW — A bomb tore through a market in the Chechen town of Gudermes on Saturday, killing three people including a 10-year-old boy, and wounding 11, military officials said. The blast was probably targeted at the nearby base of an elite police force, the city's military commandant's office said. All the victims were civilians, the Interfax news agency said.
Yemen
SAN'A — Yemeni tribal leaders denied their people are holding a German diplomat kidnapped one month ago, but security officials are adamant he remains in their hands. The diplomat, who worked in the German embassy's economic department, was abducted from a main street in a southern suburb of San'a on July 27. The embassy has not released his name.