World

Hard-line President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe shrugged off mounting international pressure to cancel Friday's runoff, saying: "The West can scream all it wants. Elections will go on." Mugabe also denied that his opponent, Morgan Tsvangirai, who pulled out of the runoff Sunday and sought refuge in the Dutch Embassy in Harare, is in danger. The UN Security Council unanimously declared that a fair runoff was impossible because of "a campaign of violence" waged by Mugabe's government and supporters.

A planned tour of Britain by Zimbabwe's national cricket team "would be unwelcome," Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office said Tuesday in an early indication of fallout from the political violence. The Zimbabwean team is scheduled to play five matches in England next year and to compete in the sport's World Cup there. Brown has been among the most outspoken world leaders on the troubles in Zimbabwe.

Israel declared its new cease-fire with Hamas broken Tuesday after three rockets fired from by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip wounded two people. The Jewish state did not say whether it would retaliate for the attack, the first since the truce took effect last Thursday. A Hamas spokesman said the rockets were fired because of "Israeli provocation" but that his organization remained "committed to the calm." In the West Bank city of Nablus, Israeli troops killed two militants, one of them a senior Islamic Jihad commander.

Despite that new violence, donor countries pledged $242 million Tuesday at a conference in Berlin to help strengthen the Palestinian Authority. Germany's Foreign Minister said the outcome should be seen as "a clear signal of support for the building of a Palestinian state." Organizers had hoped for $190 million in pledges. The money is intended to be used for policing and the court system.

Iraq's government announced plans to set up a new state-owned oil company, its fourth, to develop reserves in an area 200 miles southeast of Baghdad. Daily production there of about 125,000 barrels a day could be quadrupled, the Oil Ministry said.

Would-be rescuers found only the remains of passengers and crewmen Tuesday as they entered a capsized ferry off the central Philippines. A Navy spokesman said some of the hundreds of victims were wearing life vests but apparently hesitated to leap from the vessel because of "turbulent waters" caused by powerful typhoon Fengshen. A US warship equipped with search helicopters was to join the recovery effort.

An economist, Michele Pierre-Louis, was nominated to be the next prime minister of Haiti by embattled President Rene Preval. If confirmed, she'd become the nation's second woman to hold the post. Preval's first two choices were rejected by parliament, whose leaders vowed to scrutinize the new nominee's "eligibility." Haiti has been without a prime minister since April, when legislators fired Edouard Alexis after violent protests over the rising price of food staples.

A tribal rights group denied that it and the government of Brazil were attempting to mislead by releasing photographs last month of "uncontacted" people in the Amazon jungle. Survival International said it had not described the tribe as "lost." A British newspaper reported Sunday that the tribe has been known for almost 100 years.

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