Algeria: Bomber kills 9
ALGIERS — A suicide bomber rammed a truck into the barracks of an elite police unit Friday in a village east of the capital, Algiers. At least nine people died, including four police officers and one Chinese worker.
The bombing occurred in the town of Timizar in the Kabylia region about 60 miles from the capital along Algeria's Mediterranean coast, said a local police officer.
Afghanistan: Attacks rise
KABUL — Three international service members and at least 11 civilians died in violence across southern Afghanistan on Friday, including one attack in which a suicide bomber wearing a burqa blew himself up in a bazaar.
Violence has spiked recently in Afghanistan's volatile south as Taliban insurgents step up attacks ahead of a planned major operation by NATO forces to secure the main city of Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban.
Brazil: Victim forgives dad
SAO PAULO — A woman whose father is accused of imprisoning her for 12 years and fathering her seven children says she forgives him — and worries how she will care for her offspring if he is imprisoned, police said Friday.
"She is confused and does not express herself very well, but she did tell us she forgives her father and does not want him imprisoned because she needs his help to care for the children," lead investigator Adriana Meireles said.
Meireles quoted the 28-year-old woman as saying she never rejected her father's sexual advances because she feared he would abandon her and the children. Jose Agostinho Pereira, 54, is accused of keeping his daughter a virtual prisoner since 1998 in a thatched-roof hut outside a tiny fishing village.
Cuba: Dissident freed
HAVANA — Roman Catholic leaders announced Friday that Cuban authorities have agreed to free an ill political prisoner and transfer six others to jails nearer home, the latest in a rare series of concessions from a government not known for its tolerance of dissent.
The decision means freedom for Ariel Sigler, one of 75 activists, community organizers and journalists arrested in a 2003 crackdown. Sigler, who was serving a 25-year sentence for treason, has been hospitalized recently for an unknown ailment.
Egypt: Beating death
CAIRO — Egyptian police beat a young businessman to death on an Alexandria street after he posted a video on the Internet of officers sharing the spoils from a drug bust among themselves, his family said Friday.
Police deny the beating earlier this week took place, despite images that have been posted on social networking websites showing 28-year-old Khaled Said's broken body. Amnesty International and other rights groups on Friday demanded an independent investigation.
Mexico: Drug violence
CIUDAD JUAREZ — At least 30 gunmen burst into a drug rehabilitation center in a Mexican border state capital and opened fire, killing 19 men and wounding four people, police said. Gunmen also killed 20 people in another drug-plagued northern city.
The killings marked one of the bloodiest weeks ever in Mexico and came just weeks after authorities discovered 55 bodies in an abandoned silver mine, presumably victims of the country's drug violence.
Sudan: 4 inmates escape
KHARTOUM — Four men sentenced to death for killing U.S. diplomat John Granville two years ago in the Sudanese capital escaped from the national prison through an old sewage pipe, the country's police chief said Friday.
The fugitives crawled through the pipe, which leads from the prison to a main street, on Thursday night, said police Lt. Gen. Mohammed Abdul-Rahim al-Tayeb. Al-Tayeb said the fugitives exchanged fire with security personnel manning a checkpoint on the outskirts of the capital. In their pursuit, police arrested the driver of a car transporting the convicts, but the four men were not recaptured, he said.
South Korea: Threats
SEOUL — North Korea says it will attack South Korean loudspeakers and other propaganda facilities along its border, warning it can even turn Seoul into a "sea of flame." The General Staff of the Korean People's Army made the threat today in a declaration carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
Venezuela: Critic sought
CARACAS — Venezuelan authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the owner of a television channel that takes a critical line against President Hugo Chavez.
Defense lawyers say intelligence agents arrived at a home owned by Guillermo Zuloaga seeking to arrest him and one of his sons Friday, but their whereabouts were unknown.