SUDAN
Southern Sudan president vows not to go back to war
JUBA | The president of Southern Sudan said Thursday that he will not return the south to war with the Khartoum-based north over the disputed region of Abyei even as the north reportedly was moving thousands of Arab tribesmen into Abyei villages abandoned by terrified southerners.
Tens of thousands of civilians have fled southward from Abyei after northern Sudanese troops invaded the region over the weekend.
The south’s minister of information, Barnaba Marial Benjamin, said the northern army is moving thousands of Misseriya tribesmen into villages that belonged to the Ngok Dinka, a southern tribe. One observer said ethnic cleansing was taking place.
The fighting that began last week has threatened to unravel a 2005 peace deal and reignite a civil war that left more than 2 million people dead from 1983 to 2005.
But Southern Sudan President Salva Kiir said the south has “fought enough” and that now is the time for peace.
PAKISTAN
Suicide truck bomb kills at least 26
PESHAWAR | A suicide bomber in a pickup truck detonated his explosives near several government offices in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least 26 people, in the latest violence to hit the country since the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. Its devastation was likely to add to criticism of the government, already under fire over the unilateral U.S. operation to kill the al Qaeda chief and the mounting bloodshed since.
The attack was launched as Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, landed in Pakistan for talks with top military and civilian leaders.
Earlier Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton stressed the importance of strengthening Washington-Islamabad ties, which have frayed since the bin Laden raid.
TURKEY
8 injured in explosion in Istanbul
ISTANBUL | A bomb mounted on a bicycle near a bus stop exploded during morning rush hour in Istanbul on Thursday, wounding eight people, including a police officer. The government said the attack resembled a Kurdish rebel operation.
Several ambulances rushed to the scene of the bombing on a multilane thoroughfare in a busy commercial area of Turkey’s biggest city. Media reports said one woman lost a leg in the blast and another sustained severe burns to her face. Television footage showed medics moving a woman with a neck brace on a stretcher into a hospital.
Police Chief Huseyin Capkin said the bomb was not powerful but was still designed to cause moderate destruction. Police were investigating whether the target was a police training school nearby, and whether the bomb was time- or remote-controlled.
SOUTH AFRICA
New cockroach found in popular reserve
JOHANNESBURG | Some scientists peer into ocean depths and explore jungles in search of new species. South African scientist Mike Picker made his discovery - a new species of cockroach - in the middle of a top tourist destination.
Cape Town’s Table Mountain National Park is home to the world’s only jumping cockroach, which this week was named one of the top 10 species discoveries of the year by an international panel.
In a telephone interview Thursday, Mr. Picker, a zoology professor at the University of Cape Town, said his discovery shows how little is known about the world’s insects and other animals.
Mr. Picker’s cockroach is joined on the list by a mushroom that glows in the dark and another that blooms underwater; a spider that weaves giant webs; bacteria found on the remains of the Titanic; a fish found in Gulf of Mexico waters affected by the 2010 oil spill; a leech with enormous teeth; a cricket that pollinates a rare orchid; a giant, fruit-eating lizard; and a small antelope from West Africa.
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