Tuesday, April 29, 2008; A12

CUBA

Cuba will convene a Communist Party congress next year to establish guidelines, including for "when the historic generations are no longer around," President Raúl Castro announced Monday.

The congress, Cuba's sixth and the first since 1997, follows a series of minor social changes Castro has decreed to make life easier and less restrictive for ordinary Cubans.

"We have worked hard in these past few months," the president said during a Central Committee gathering in Havana, aired on state television.

The congress is likely to replace some officials of the 25-member party Politburo, and it could replace Fidel Castro as head of the party. Fidel Castro, 81, has not been seen in public since July 2006, and he stepped down as Cuba's president in February.

Raúl Castro also announced that he had commuted death sentences for several inmates but added that capital punishment would remain on the books.

Zimbabwe's opposition movement united Monday in spite of long-standing divisions, declaring that it has won control of parliament for the first time in history and that President Robert Mugabe must concede defeat.

Opposition leaders also appealed to the U.N. Security Council to send a special envoy to Zimbabwe and to warn Mugabe that the mounting violence against opposition supporters was tantamount to "crimes against humanity."

Putting months of bickering behind them, Movement for Democratic Change leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara stood together in neighboring South Africa and urged 84-year-old Mugabe, who has ruled since 1980, to step aside.

Afghan soldiers took up positions Monday in districts of the capital where government officials and foreigners live, while security officers hunted for suspects in the attempted assassination of President Hamid Karzai.

About 100 people were rounded up for questioning about the attack Sunday that killed three people and wounded eight during a government celebration in Kabul, an intelligence official said.

The Taliban asserted responsibility for the assault. Among those killed was an Afghan lawmaker 30 yards from Karzai.

In battles Sunday and Monday in the country's east, Afghan and foreign troops supported by airstrikes killed 23 guerrillas and wounded 20, officials said. No casualties were reported for the Afghan and international forces.

Meanwhile in neighboring Pakistan, talks aimed at ending violence in the tribal regions have hit a snag over Taliban demands for the army to withdraw from the area, a Pakistani official said.

North Korea mobilized tens of thousands of citizens on Monday to celebrate the Olympic torch relay in Pyongyang, the first such event in the authoritarian nation.

Men in their best suits and women wearing traditional high-waisted dresses waved flags and paper flowers in the capital, greeting the torch like a visiting head of state. Security was far lighter than in most other cities on the torch tour.

China is North Korea's main ally and a key aid provider. The Pyongyang government has condemned disruptions of the torch relay elsewhere and supported Beijing in its crackdown in Tibet.

The torch arrived in Vietnam on Monday night under tight security as activists said they planned demonstrations over the contested Spratly and Paracel islands in the South China Sea.

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Seven Somali pirates were sentenced to life in prison, and authorities vowed similarly tough penalties for others after a surge in pirate attacks.

Spain's National Court rejected a request from Argentina for the extradition of former president Isabel Perón on charges of human rights abuses stemming from death squad activity during her rule.

From News Services