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11 U.S. Envoys Depart As Tensions Escalate
Eleven U.S. diplomats left Belarus on Saturday after being declared personas non grata amid escalating diplomatic tensions between Washington and the ex-Soviet nation, an embassy official said.
On Wednesday, Belarus ordered 10 of the embassy's 11 diplomats to leave the country, giving them 72 hours to comply. All 11 left Saturday, a U.S. Embassy official said.
The departures leave the embassy with four U.S. staffers, down from 35 at the start of the year. The U.S. ambassador left in March after Belarus pulled its ambassador from Washington.
Washington is one of the fiercest critics of Belarus's authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko.
zimbabwe
Opposition Undecided On Contesting Runoff
Zimbabwe's main opposition party said Saturday it was still undecided on whether its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, should take part in a runoff election against President Robert Mugabe.
Election officials announced Friday that Tsvangirai, who heads the Movement for Democratic Change, had defeated Mugabe in a March 29 presidential poll but failed to win the absolute majority necessary to avoid a second ballot.
The opposition has accused election officials of rigging the results, saying that Tsvangirai won the election outright and that Mugabe's rule is over. But it has not signaled how it will handle the runoff.
china
Ministry Urges Efforts To Halt Deadly Virus
China's Health Ministry issued a nationwide alert calling for heightened efforts to control a virus that has caused the deaths of 22 children in one city and shows signs of spreading.
Health bureaus around the country must step up monitoring for hand, foot and mouth disease following a "relatively large" outbreak in the central city of Fuyang, the ministry said on its Web site.
Sudan Crash Called Accident
Engine failure is believed to have caused the plane crash in Sudan on Friday that killed 24 people, including key southern Sudanese lawmakers, a senior official said.
Missing British Girl Recalled
A year after Madeleine McCann vanished from a southern Portuguese resort, family members joined worshipers in marking the anniversary with church services in Britain and Portugal.
From News Services
