Bolivia: Morales OKs recall vote
LA PAZ — President Evo Morales committed himself and Bolivia's nine governors on Monday to face recall votes on Aug. 10, gambling that his unfinished term will survive a referendum whose peculiar rules tilt in the populist leader's favor.
"Personally I have no fear of the people," Morales said. "Let the people judge us."
Chad: Sudan border closed
N'DJAMENA — Chad closed its border with Sudan on Monday and put a halt to bilateral trade, a minister said, a day after Sudan severed diplomatic ties with Chad.
Communications Minister Mahamat Hissene said that the Cabinet decided during a meeting chaired by President Idriss Deby to cut all economic ties with Sudan, including freezing the assets of a Sudanese bank in Chad and stopping all trade between the two countries.
Jordan: Drowning charge filed
AMMAN — A man who is suspected of drowning his 22-year-old sister for having an extramarital affair was charged Monday with premeditated murder, a judicial official said.
The unidentified woman's brother beat her with the help of his family Saturday and then took her to the Dead Sea where he drowned her, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
The woman was killed after an unidentified man was seen leaving her house, the official said.
Liberia: Food exports banned
MONROVIA — Liberia banned all food exports Monday, saying profiteers have been taking advantage of its cheap rice prices to truck the grain — already in short supply in Liberia — to neighboring countries to sell at higher prices.
It was the latest attempt by some of the region's poorest countries to fight a looming food crisis sparked by a worldwide surge in prices.
The high cost of rice has hit particularly hard in West Africa, where many countries count the grain as a staple even though much of it is imported. In war-recovering Liberia, the price surge has added yet another obstacle to resurrecting a devastated economy.
Mexico: 5 arrested in killing
MEXICO CITY — A police officer and four other suspects with ties to a powerful drug cartel have been arrested in the assassination of Mexico's acting federal police chief, authorities said Monday.
The five — three men and two women — belonged to a criminal cell acting on the orders of the Sinaloa drug cartel, said Gerardo Garay, the anti-drug coordinator for the federal police. Police captured all five suspects hours after the assassination of Edgar Millan Gomez on Thursday.
South Korea: Poultry killed
SEOUL — South Korean officials said Monday they have killed all poultry in Seoul, the capital, to curb the spread of bird flu following a new outbreak of the disease in the city.
Quarantine officials destroyed 15,000 chickens, ducks, pheasants and turkeys raised in farms, restaurants, schools and homes in the capital, said Kim Yoon-kyu, a Seoul Metropolitan Government official.