France: Missile plan questioned
NICE — France's U.S.-friendly president sent a clear message Friday to the next American administration: Plans for a U.S. missile shield in Eastern Europe are misguided and won't make the continent a safer place.
Nicolas Sarkozy also warned Russian President Dmitry Medvedev against upping tensions by deploying missiles on the borders of the European Union in response to the U.S. planned missile defense system. Medvedev urged all sides to refrain from "unilateral" moves.
India: Lunar probe lands
NEW DELHI — The first lunar probe from India landed successfully on the moon Friday as part of a two-year mission aimed at laying the groundwork for further Indian space expeditions, the Indian Space Research Organization said.
ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair said cameras on board have been transmitting images of the moon back to Indian space control, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. Chief among the lunar mission's goals is mapping not only the surface of the moon but what lies beneath.
Mexico: Crash investigated
MEXICO CITY — The turbulent wake of a larger plane likely caused the crash of a government jet that killed Mexico's second-most powerful official, investigators said Friday, as they released a recording transcript showing the frantic pilots struggling to regain control of the plane.
A preliminary investigation found the pilots were slow to follow the control tower's instructions to reduce speed and appeared to be nearly one nautical mile too close behind a Boeing 767-300 on the same flight path to Mexico City's international airport, Transportation Secretary Luis Tellez said. The crash killed 14, including Interior Secretary Juan Camilo Mourino, the equivalent of Mexico's vice president.
Nicaragua: Election fraud?
MANAGUA — Nicaragua's opposition party is promising to block debate on the national budget until the government reviews all disputed local elections.
It also wants international election monitors to oversee the review. The Constitutionalist Liberal Party says Sunday's elections, in which President Daniel Ortega's Sandinistas were declared winners in most mayoral races, were fraudulent. The U.S. State Department and Carter Center have also expressed concern over the results.
Pakistan: Missile kills 11
ISLAMABAD — At least 11 people were killed early Friday, including six foreign fighters, in a suspected U.S. missile strike on Pakistan's troubled border region of North Waziristan, a security official and an eyewitness said.
Also Friday, gunmen in the frontier city of Peshawar opened fire on a car carrying a Japanese journalist and his Pakistani assistant. Motoki Yotsukura, of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, was wounded in the leg, police officer Mohammed Khan told the Associated Press.
Thailand: Princess mourned
BANGKOK — Thais by the thousand lined capital streets early today as soldiers pulled a chariot holding the remains of the king's sister, part of a six-day cremation ceremony that promises a temporary halt to the country's divisive political conflict.
Princess Galyani Vadhana, the elder sister of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, died of abdominal cancer 10 months ago at age 84. The six-day ceremony started Friday with a period of mourning launched by saffron-robed Buddhist monks chanting prayers.