Brazil: Protest over logging
BRASILIA — A mob of about 3,000 people enraged by a crackdown on illegal logging trashed a government office in a remote jungle city and tried to attack environmental workers, authorities said Monday.
Environment Minister Carlos Minc said federal police should be sent to the northeastern town of Paragominas following the riot, which was prompted by the seizure of 14,124 cubic feet of wood believed to have been cut inside an Indian reservation.
Britain: Baby flushed
LONDON — A woman has told a British court she accidentally flushed her newborn down the toilet because she didn't realize she was giving birth.
Claire Jones says she knew she was pregnant from an affair with a colleague but thought the pain she suffered in the early hours of last Dec. 28 was from diarrhea.
Jones told a coroner's court in Cardiff, Wales, on Monday that she only realized what had happened when she saw a foot in the toilet bowl.
She said she tried unsuccessfully to revive the baby and then put the body in the trunk of her car.
Gaza Strip: Currency crisis
GAZA CITY — Desperate Gazans crowded into banks Monday, jostling to get to the front of lines as they sought to withdraw money amid a worsening currency shortage caused by Israeli sanctions.
Israel has refused to allow cash to enter Gaza in recent weeks to ratchet up pressure on the ruling Hamas militant group. With the supply of currency dwindling, banks have limited withdrawals over the past two weeks, and some have posted signs telling customers they cannot take out any more money.
Guatemala: Bishop killed
GUATEMALA CITY — The head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malaysia is among three people killed in a boat accident on a Guatemalan lake.
Bishop Julius Paul had attended a church conference in Guatemala and was visiting Lake Atitlan as a tourist. He drowned along with a Frenchman and a Guatemalan when the boat they were traveling in sank. Three others are missing after Saturday's accident.
North Korea: Tours to end
KAESONG — For months, tours of this historic city — famed for its Buddhist temples, royal tombs and ancient relics — have given South Koreans a glimpse of life in the hidden communist North.
But North Korea officials announced Monday that these visits were being suspended starting Dec. 1 because of tensions with Seoul.
Pakistan: 15 militants killed
PESHAWAR — Government forces battling al-Qaida and Taliban fighters killed 15 militants Monday in the tribal areas along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, the army said.
In a separate operation, a military official said troops had made progress in securing Peshawar just outside the tribal belt, a strategic city where there has been a spate of attacks on foreigners recently. About 25 suspected militants were killed over two weeks around Peshawar, which sits on a key supply route for Western troops in Afghanistan.
Thailand: Parliament shuttered
BANGKOK — Thousands of demonstrators shut down Thailand's Parliament on Monday, but even as protest leaders declared victory, they warned that their "final struggle" to oust the elected government will only get more intense.
There were only minor scuffles as protesters, who call themselves the People's Alliance for Democracy, successfully blockaded the Parliament building in their campaign to force the resignation of Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat.
Zimbabwe: Visit blocked
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, visiting South Africa, said Monday the crisis in Zimbabwe appears "much worse than anything we ever imagined" after the government there blocked his weekend humanitarian visit.
Carter, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and child advocate Graca Machel called for southern African leaders to halt the "deep suffering" in Zimbabwe, where the U.N. says more than 5 million people face imminent starvation.