Gwinnett Daily Post

Marines push militants out of Taliban region

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan - U.S. Marines trapped Taliban fighters in a residential compound and persuaded the insurgents to allow women and children to leave. The troops then moved in - only to discover that the militants had slipped out, dressed in women's burqa robes.

The fighters, who may owe their lives to the new U.S. commander's emphasis on limiting civilian casualties, were among hundreds of militants who have fled the offensive the Marines launched last week in southern Helmand province. Marine officers say keeping the Taliban from returning so the Afghan government can establish a stable presence will be a bigger challenge.

Mobs spread ethnic strife in western China

URUMQI, China - Sobbing Muslim women scuffled with riot police, and Chinese men wielding steel pipes, meat cleavers and sticks rampaged through the streets Tuesday as ethnic tensions worsened in China's oil-rich Xinjiang territory, forcing officials to declare a curfew.

The new violence in Xinjiang's capital erupted only a few hours after the city's top officials told reporters the streets in Urumqi were returning to normal following a riot that killed 156 people Sunday. The officials also said more than 1,000 suspects had been rounded up since the spasm of attacks by Muslim Uighurs against Han Chinese, the ethnic majority.

Police arrest about 40 anti-G8 protesters

ROME - Police arrested 38 activists Tuesday during clashes at protests in Rome against this week's Group of Eight summit in central Italy.

At one impromptu demonstration early in the day, protesters with covered faces and helmets blocked roads and set fire to garbage bins and tires near one of the capital's universities.

Yemen: Bodies in Tanzania may be from crash

NAIROBI, Kenya - Eight bodies that have washed ashore in Tanzania may be from a plane that plunged into the Indian Ocean with 153 people onboard, Yemeni authorities said Tuesday. Only one 12-year-old girl survived the crash.

The committee did not say how the bodies had been identified, give details about the debris or elaborate further.