Monday, May 28, 2007

Rwandan Rebels Kill 17 In Attack in East Congo

KINSHASA, Congo -- At least 17 people have been clubbed or hacked to death by suspected Rwandan rebels in Congo's eastern province of South Kivu, a radio station reported Sunday.

The attack took place late Saturday on two villages in Kanyola, about 30 miles west of Bukavu, the provincial capital, according to Radio Okapi. A local civil society coordinator said many more people had been injured or kidnapped.

The Congolese army and U.N. peacekeepers carried out joint operations in the area several weeks ago against fighters from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, a Hutu-dominated Rwandan rebel movement based in neighboring Congo.

Despite the official end of a five-year war in 2003, Congo's eastern provinces regularly experience violence at the hands of local militias, foreign rebel groups and the country's own armed forces.

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· CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuela's oldest private television station went off the air just before midnight as thousands banged on pots and pans in protest against President Hugo Chávez's decision not to renew the license of the opposition-aligned channel.

· TOKYO -- Japan's farm minister, Toshikatsu Matsuoka, under fire for a series of political funding scandals, has killed himself, national broadcaster NHK reported Monday.

The cabinet minister's suicide comes with less than two months to go before an election for parliament's upper house, a key test for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government.

· CAIRO -- Egypt criticized the United States for meeting Sunday with legislators from the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most powerful opposition group.

A delegation led by Rep. David E. Price (D-N.C.) met with President Hosni Mubarak before talking with a group of Egyptian lawmakers, including Mohammad Saad al-Katatni, who heads the Brotherhood's parliamentary bloc.

· JERUSALEM-- A Hamas rocket fired from the Gaza Strip killed an Israeli, the second to die in fighting in a week. Oshri Oz, 35, was killed while driving in Sderot.

· LONDON -- A BBC journalist kidnapped in Gaza on March 12 is alive and well and could soon be released, a Palestinian government spokesman said.

Speaking in Wales, Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad said he knew the "small group" holding Alan Johnston and was involved in negotiations to free him.

· MOSCOW -- Police detained gay rights activists, among them European lawmakers, as they tried to present a letter to Moscow's mayor. The letter appealed the city's ban on a march to mark the 14th anniversary of Russia's decriminalization of homosexuality.

-- From News Services