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Lankan president invites Tigers for talks
COLOMBO, Nov 28 (AFP): Sri Lanka's new President Mahinda Rajapakse Monday invited the Tamil Tigers for peace talks a day after the separatist guerrillas issued a deadline for him to cut a peace deal quickly or risk a new war.
Rajapakse, in an address to Colombo-based diplomats, said he wanted talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) but did not respond directly to the deadline set by the rebels.
"Let me use this occasion to reiterate my invitation to (LTTE leader Velupillai) Prabhakaran for talks," the president said, according to a text of the speech released by his office.
"We can resume work immediately on reviewing the operation of the ceasefire, whilst we prepare ourselves for eventual substantive talks."
Saddam trial adjourned till December 5
BAGHDAD (AFP): A defiant Saddam Hussein Monday exchanged angry words with the presiding judge and heard testimony from the first prosecution witness as the trial of the former Iraqi dictator resumed after a 40-day break.
After barely two hours in session, the court was adjourned to December 5 to give time for one of Saddam's seven co-defendants to appoint his own defence lawyer.
Saddam, who faces charges including murder and torture that carry the death penalty, showed no sign of toning down the combative stance he adopted at the first hearing in October.
134 dead in China coal mine blast
QITAIHE, China (AFP): An explosion at a coal mine in remote northeastern China killed 134 workers and left another 15 trapped underground, China News Service said Monday, amid frantic rescue efforts to find survivors.
A total of 221 miners were underground when the cave-in occurred about 9:40 pm (1340 GMT) Sunday at the state-run Dongfeng coal mine, near Qitaihe city in Heilongjiang province, not far from the Russian border with Siberia.
However, after a day of intense rescue efforts, 72 survivors had been pulled from the rubble, said the semi-official China News Service.
Officials at the mine refused to detail the situation or the death toll, but video on China Central Television (CCTV) showed gaping holes in numerous places at the mine site where explosions had ripped through the earth.
Zelaya wins presidential vote in Honduras
TEGUCIGALPA (AFP): Opposition Liberal Party candidate Manuel Zelaya won the Honduras presidential election, a top election official said Monday.
"Honduras already has a president-elect, and it is Zelaya," Aristides Mejia, president of the Supreme Electoral Council, said in a television interview.
Mejia announced the win based on partial results after technical glitches delayed the count from Sunday's election. No official vote tally was released.
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