SOMALIA

SOMALIA

U.N. Official Abducted

The head of the U.N. refugee agency in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, was abducted from his home Saturday night, the agency said Sunday. It was the latest in a string of kidnappings in the chaotic African nation.

Relatives identified the man, a Somali who works for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, as Hassan Mohamed Ali. "Six gunmen broke into his home last night and took him," said Khilif Aden, a relative who spoke to Ali's wife.

Also Sunday, gunmen killed a peace activist in the central town of Belet Weyne, his family said. Mohamed Hassan Kulmiye, head of Somalia's Center for Research and Dialogue, was shot outside his home, said his cousin Nuur Hassan Qole, who witnessed the killing.

THAILAND

Premier Answers Critics

Thailand's embattled prime minister, Samak Sundaravej, vowed Sunday to hold on to his job, defying thousands of protesters who have besieged his offices, demanding that he and his coalition government resign.

Samak, a veteran conservative, and his four-month-old government have been accused of protecting the interests of Thaksin Shinawatra, the ousted prime minister, and failing to address economic woes, including rising prices.

But in a nationally televised address, Samak defended his administration's record and said he would step down only if he loses a no-confidence motion filed by the opposition and due to be debated in parliament this week. "I will not bow to pressure," he declared.

Samak was plucked from semi-retirement by Thaksin, who was banned from politics for five years in the wake of the September 2006 coup that drove his government from power.

-- Amy Kazmin