World Digest: 8 Die in Pakistan in Suspected U.S. Strikes

PAKISTAN

Suspected Strikes By U.S. Kill Eight

Suspected U.S. missiles pounded militant hideouts Thursday in the tribal belt near Afghanistan where Pakistani troops are massing ahead of a major ground offensive against the country's top Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud.

The strikes in South Waziristan, which killed at least eight people, were described by Pakistani officials and witnesses as coming from unmanned aircraft.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani military said it had killed 34 more insurgents in its separate, seven-week-old offensive against the Taliban in the Swat Valley region.

-- Associated Press

AFRICA

Panel Urges Growth Of Internal Markets

Africa must develop domestic and regional markets in response to the current economic crisis and to improve its prospects for long-term growth, experts in African economics said Thursday at a panel discussion in Washington sponsored by the Institute for Policy Studies and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The drop in the price of exported commodities, such as oil and copper, has had the biggest impact on Africa during the downturn, said José Gijón of the OECD Development Center. Building internal markets would shelter African economies from that kind of harm, the panelists said.

Panelists also said that remittances from Africans working abroad -- which outpace foreign aid to the continent -- could be better used to help local and regional economies.

-- Robert E. Thomason