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President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan was unhurt Sunday as suspected Taliban militants attempted to assassinate him at a ceremony in Kabul, the capital. But three other people died in the attack and eight more were wounded. Intelligence sources said about 100 people were taken in for questioning. The attackers opened up with automatic weapons fire as Karzai (above, l.) stood for the national anthem.

Opponents of President Robert Mugabe will control Zimbabwe's parliament, reports said Sunday after a recount of votes confirmed the original outcomes in 18 disputed races. Five others were expected to be announced Monday, but even if they all went to Mugabe's ZANU-PF movement that would not return it to a majority after the March 29 election. Results of the presidential balloting, which the opposition claims it won, still have not been announced.

Tamil rebels again surprised Sri Lanka's military early Sunday, dropping three bombs from their light aircraft on strategic targets. There reportedly was no significant damage, but analysts said the attack was worrisome because it showed the rebels have the coordinates of key targets. Last Friday, the rebels also exploded a bomb aboard a crowded bus in a suburb of the capital, Colombo, killing 26 passengers and wounding 64 others.

A 19th attempt to elect the new president of Lebanon was scheduled for May 13 by parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. The vote could not be taken last Tuesday because of the ongoing dispute between anti- and pro-Syrian legislators.

Across Britain, motorists were being urged not to hoard gasoline as unionized employees of Scotland's only oil refinery began a two-day strike over proposed changes to their pension program. Analysts said the walkout could cost up to $200 million in lost production and would hit the Treasury hardest, since it relies heavily on tax receipts from the oil industry. Reportedly, no negotiations were scheduled between the union and the refinery operator, which claims it no longer can sustain the level of its contributions to the employees' pension fund.

Seventeen people were killed in Tijuana, Mexico, as rival drug gangs fought running battles Saturday. The shootout was one of the worst in the three years that gangs have been fighting for control of lucrative trafficking routes into the US. Police recovered more than 1,500 shell casings, many of them along a busy street lined with restaurants, doctors' offices, and strip malls.

King Muhammad VI of Morocco ordered that no effort be spared in aiding survivors and victims' relatives after fire destroyed a four-story mattress factory Saturday in Casablanca, the largest city. The blaze killed at least 55 employees and injured 24 others. Investigators reportedly planned to check reports that the factory doors were locked and emergency exits blocked. Below, the blaze rages behind two firefighters.

Investigators in British Columbia were trying to determine why a 600-square-foot section of floor collapsed at a Christian rock concert late Friday, plunging dozens of attendees into a church basement. Forty-four people were hurt, one of them seriously. The church, in Abbotsford seats more than 1,200 people. About 1,000, most of them teenagers, were inside at the time.

A experimental unit for Europe's proposed satellite navigation system was headed into orbit Sunday aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. The unit is intended to test technologies such as an atomic clock that will be used in the Galileo system, which the European Union claims will be more accurate than the the US global positioning system, especially in major cities. The first four of Galileo's 30 planned satellites are expected to be launched in 2010.

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