KABUL, Afghanistan
U.S. security workers accused in shooting
Guards for a U.S. security firm obstructed an investigation into whether one of its supervisors fatally shot his Afghan interpreter, an Afghan police chief said Friday.
Noor Ahmad, 37, was shot in the head Tuesday at the compound of his employer, U.S. Protection and Investigations, at Tut village in Farah province, police and provincial officials said.
The American accused of shooting him reportedly worked as the local supervisor for USPI, a Houston-based company that provides security for foreign contract workers in Afghanistan, including on construction of a U.S.-funded road between Herat and Kandahar.
“An American guy shot his translator. Next morning, a helicopter came and took the foreigner to Kabul,” Allah Udin Noorzai, a provincial police chief, told The Associated Press.
The U.S. Embassy said it was looking into media reports about the case. The U.S. military said it had no information.
Ahmad’s relatives claimed the American had shot the Afghan during a late-night party because of a personal grievance.
AJACCIO, France
Strikes, rocket attack roil island of Corsica
Corsica was nearly cut off from mainland Europe on Friday with strikes spreading to airports, maritime links severed and a rocket attack adding to mounting tensions.
The unrest on the Mediterranean island, sparked initially by plans to privatize a state ferry company, was shaping up as one of the most serious tests for the young administration of Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin since President Jacques Chirac appointed him in late May.
Chirac condemned Thursday night’s rocket attack that targeted a government building in Ajaccio on the west coast.
It was not clear whether the blast was the work of Corsican nationalists or linked to anger over the privatization plans for ferry operator SNCM, which runs services between the island and the French mainland.
DRESDEN, Germany
Last parliament seat decides nation’s fate
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and challenger Angela Merkel battled over a last remaining seat in parliament Friday, hoping to get an edge in a weekend vote and end Germany’s political stalemate.
Merkel suggested that Sunday’s balloting in Dresden might prompt Schroeder to back off his bid to stay in the chancellery.
But Schroeder showed no sign of yielding, reminding voters of his popular opposition to the war in Iraq and calling his rivals “not fit” to govern because they couldn’t stand up to “big partners” – such as the U.S.
The rest of Germany voted Sept. 18.
The election in the Dresden district was delayed because of a candidate’s death.
BUKAVU, Congo
Foreign militiamen stay put despite order
Thousands of foreign militiamen in Congo appeared to ignore Friday’s deadline to leave this central African country or be evicted by force, the government said.
Earlier this month, President Joseph Kabila gave the estimated 12,000 to 15,000 fighters – mostly extremist Rwandan militiamen blamed for Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and a smaller number of Ugandan and Burundian fighters – an ultimatum to leave or face Congo army troops backed by U.N. peacekeepers.
“There is no indication that any of them have left Congo,” said Delion Kimbu, a Defense Ministry spokesman. After Friday, “if we find foreign soldiers in our country, we will use force” to evict them, Kimbu said.
