Russia: Plane crash
MOSCOW — An Antonov plane ordered by the military junta in Myanmar crashed during a test flight in Russia on Saturday, killing all seven people on board, the Interfax news agency reported.
Five Russians and two pilots from Myanmar were aboard the An-148, a regional jet-style aircraft, Interfax quoted investigators as saying.
A technical problem was blamed for the accident.
The air force of the Southeast Asian country had ordered the plane, which could seat up to 90 passengers, from a factory in the southwestern Russian city of Voronezh.
The crash happened near the city, which lies some 500 kilometers (about 310 miles) from the capital, Moscow.
Mexico: Heroin
MEXICO CITY — The Mexican military says it has arrested a man who was carrying 1,000 doses of heroin along with cocaine, methamphetamine and a weapon on a federal highway.
A Defense Department statement issued Saturday says military personnel stopped the suspect the previous day at an unannounced checkpoint outside Tuxpan, north of beach resorts in the Pacific coast state of Nayarit.
A United Nations anti-narcotics agency recently reported that production of highly pure heroin is rising in Mexico.
Much of it is intended for smuggling into the United States. The U.S. Justice Department says Mexican drug cartels more than doubled heroin production in 2009.
Angola: Protests
LUANDA, Angola — Angola's ruling party is rallying more than 20,000 pro-government protesters to march in the country's capital in response to anonymous calls for anti-government demonstrations.
The party of President Eduardo Dos Santos, who has been in power since 1979, held a peaceful, all-day demonstration Saturday. Calls for anti-government protests for Monday have been circulating the internet, but no opposition leaders have endorsed the plan.
Angola is rich in diamonds and one of Africa's top oil producers, but its people are impoverished and its infrastructure in ruins. The respected watchdog group Transparency International's latest rankings place Angola 168th out of 178 countries in its corruption index.
Brazil: 25 killed
SAO PAULO — Brazilian police say a passenger bus collided head-on with a lumber truck in the southern state of Santa Catarina, killing at least 25 people. More than 20 were seriously injured.
Highway police officer Rosangela Ogioni says the accident happened early Saturday morning near the town of Descanso. She says the truck driver apparently lost control of his vehicle on a curve and slammed into the bus, which was carrying 47 passengers.
No further details were immediately available.
Venezuela: Death
CARACAS — Lina Ron, a vocal supporter of President Hugo Chavez who led radical street groups, died of a heart attack Saturday, a Venezuelan government official said. She was 51.
Information Minister Andres Izarra confirmed her death, saying she had no vital signs when she arrived at a hospital in the capital, Caracas. "Honor and glory to Lina Ron," Izarra said on Twitter.
Ron led groups of Chavez supporters that were involved in attacks on opposition protests, and she repeatedly said she would take up arms if necessary to defend Chavez and his socialist movement.
The president publicly opposed some of her tactics. She faced various charges related to her involvement in disturbances.