The world in brief

— QUOTE OF THE DAY

“This is a sovereign nation and the president is exercising sovereignty.”

U.S. Gen. Joseph Dunford, after announcing NATO coalition forces would follow Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai’s decree to stop airstrikes in residential areas Article, 1A

2 to face off in Cyprus runoff election

NICOSIA, Cyprus - Cyprus heads into a runoff presidential election next weekend, with voters called on to select who will lead the country through a severe financial crisis after no candidate won an outright majority in Sunday’s vote.

Nicos Anastasiades, a rightist who presented himself as the most capable to negotiate a bailout with Cyprus’ European partners and who went into the election a strong favorite, won the first round with just over 45 percent of the vote. But he fell short of the 50 percent plus one vote needed for an outright victory.

He will face Stavros Malas, a leftist who has advocated being more assertive in bailout negotiations so his country can win better conditions in return for rescue loans, in next Sunday’s runoff.

Final results Sunday night showed Anastasiades winning 45.46 percent, well ahead of Malas’ 26.91. Independent Giorgos Lallikas was a close third with 24.93 percent and was eliminated from the running.

Chavez said to seek better U.S. ties

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela’s foreign minister, Elias Jaua, said Sunday that President Hugo Chavez has asked his diplomats to seek improved relations with the United States.

Chavez has had a rocky relationship with Washington for years, though the United States remains the top buyer of oil from Venezuela.

“We want to have a good relationship with the United States, but we are not desperate,” said Jaua, speaking in an interview broadcast on the local Televen TV channel.

The U.S. Embassy in Caracas has been without an ambassador since July 2010, when Chavez rejected the U.S.

nominee for ambassador, accusing him of making disrespectful remarks about Venezuela’s government. That led Washington to revoke the visa of the Venezuelan ambassador.

Jaua said Chavez wants Venezuela’s ambassador to the Organization of American States, Roy Chaderton, to talk with officials in Washington about the possibility of restoring ambassadors to embassies in both countries.

15 die in Indonesian landslides, floods

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Landslides and floods triggered by torrential rain in northern Indonesia have killed at least 15 people and sent hundreds fleeing for safe ground.

Disaster official Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said mud and rocks cascaded down hills Sunday in seven subdistricts of Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi province, while more than 1,000 houses were flooded after downpours caused a river to burst its banks.

North Sulawesi police chief Brig. Gen. Dicky Atotoy said 14 bodies, including three children, were pulled from the mud and wreckage of crumpled homes, and another body was found in water late Sunday.

Rescuers were searching for those who may still be buried beneath mud and rocks.

Seasonal downpours cause dozens of landslides and flash floods each year in Indonesia, where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains.

French, Malian forces retake Bourem

GAO, Mali - Hundreds of French and Malian soldiers have retaken the jihadist stronghold of Bourem, a town where many radical Islamic fighters were believed to have fled, officials and witnesses said Sunday.

Militants launched two suicide attacks last week on a checkpoint leading into Gao on the road from Bourem, raising fears of a protracted insurgency in northern Mali after French and Malian forces initially dislodged them from Gao without much resistance.

About 1,000 forces from France, Mali and other African countries are now in Bourem, according to a French military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t permitted to speak to press.

The joint military operation was launched Saturday afternoon as part of the ongoing effort to secure Gao, where the radical militants invaded one week ago and exchanged gunfire with Malian forces for hours.

While Gao has been restored to relative peace in recent days, officials say the ousted fighters are just on the other side of the Niger River, from which they launched last week’s assault when they arrived in wooden boats.

Bourem is only 60 miles from Gao, where the radical Islamists ruled for nearly 10 months by imposing their strict interpretation of Islamic law, known as Shariah.

Front Section, Pages 6 on 02/18/2013

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