WORLD IN BRIEF
Monday, December 4, 2006; Page A15
U.S. Marine Found Guilty Of Rape By Philippine Court
MANILA -- A U.S. Marine was convicted Monday of raping a Philippine woman and sentenced to 40 years in prison, ending an emotional trial that has strained U.S.-Philippine ties and tested a joint military pact.
Three other Marines accused of cheering him on were acquitted.
Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith, 21, from St. Louis, was the first American soldier convicted of wrongdoing in the Philippines since the country shut down U.S. bases here the early 1990s.
AFRICA
· MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Somalia's government has sent hundreds of troops backed by Ethiopian soldiers to recapture Dinsor, a strategic southern town seized by the country's powerful Islamic movement, military officials said Sunday.
With the seizure of the town, the Council of Islamic Courts, as the movement is called, has effectively surrounded the weak, transitional government in Baidoa, the only town it controls.
· LAGOS, Nigeria -- A pipeline burst into flames, killing at least one person, after leaking gasoline for days from a rupture apparently caused by thieves trying to steal fuel on the outskirts of Lagos, Radio Nigeria said.
ASIA
· PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea -- Former president Bill Clinton was made an honorary tribal chief on a visit to promote HIV-AIDS charities in the impoverished South Pacific nation.
· KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- A suicide car bomb exploded next to a British convoy in southern Afghanistan, and troops speeding away from the scene fired at several civilian cars. Three Afghans were killed and 19 people were wounded, including three British soldiers, authorities said. The attack was one of at least five violent confrontations in southern Afghanistan in 24 hours.
EUROPE
· LONDON -- British police investigating the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko will go to Moscow to speak to witnesses who met the former Russian spy in London shortly before his death, a police source said.
Nine detectives may fly to Moscow as early as Monday, while others have already visited the United States as part of the probe, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
· ROME -- Archaeologists have unearthed what they say are the only existing imperial insignia belonging to early fourth-century Emperor Maxentius -- precious objects that were buried to preserve them and keep them from enemies when he was defeated by his rival Constantine.
· LONDON -- Two firefighters were killed in a blaze at a fireworks factory near Lewes, about 60 miles south of London, that injured a dozen others and sent explosions high into the sky for hours, police said.
THE AMERICAS
· LA PAZ, Bolivia -- President Evo Morales signed into law contracts giving the government control over foreign energy companies' operations, completing a process begun May 1 with the nationalization of Bolivia's petroleum industry.
-- From News Services
