The world in brief

LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY “The failure of the international community,

in particular the Security Council, to take

concrete actions to stop the bloodletting, shames us all.” The United Nations’ human rights chief, Navi Pillay, on findings that more than 60,000 people have died in Syria’s 22-month-long civil war Article, this pagePakistanis mourn 7 slain aid workers

SWABI, Pakistan - Hundreds of villagers in northwest Pakistan turned out Wednesday to bury five female teachers and two health workers who were gunned down a day earlier by militants in what may have been the latest in a series of attacks targeting anti-polio efforts in the country.

The seven had worked at a community center in the town of Swabi that included a primary school and a medical clinic that vaccinated children against polio. Some militants oppose the vaccination campaigns, accusing health workers of being spies for the U.S. and alleging that the vaccine is intended to make Muslim children sterile.

There has been no claim of responsibility, and police have not made any arrests.

Opposition leader urges Chavez update

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela’s opposition demanded that the government reveal specifics of President Hugo Chavez’s condition Wednesday, criticizing secrecy surrounding the ailing leader’s health more than three weeks after his cancer surgery in Cuba.

Opposition coalition leader Ramon Guillermo Aveledo said at a news conference that the information provided by government officials “continues to be insufficient.”

Chavez has not been seen or heard from since the Dec. 11 operation, and Vice President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday said the president’s condition remained “delicate” because of complications from a respiratory infection.

Maduro also urged Venezuelans to ignore rumors about Chavez’s condition.

Aveledo said the opposition has been respectful during Chavez’s illness, arguing that “the secrecy is the source of the rumors.”Taliban: U.S. pullout same as in 1975

KABUL - The Taliban on Wednesday likened the planned withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan to America’s pullout from Vietnam, calling it a “declare victory and run” strategy.

A statement from the militant group said the ongoing transfer of security operations from U.S. troops to Afghan forces was merely a retreat similar to the American withdrawal from South Vietnam before the communist victory there in 1975.

American-led NATO troops are scheduled to pull out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014, although the U.S. will leave a residual force behind and other NATO countries have pledged continuing support of the Kabul government.

“They want to flee from Afghanistan just as they turned tail and ran from Vietnam,” the Taliban statement said. “When America faced utter destruction in Vietnam, they came up with the formula ‘declare victory and run’ and want to utilize the formula of ‘transfer security and run’ here in Afghanistan.”Putin orders elections rules change

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a change in the rules for parliamentary elections, a move that could help solidify his power and influence toward the end of his current term and insulate him from dwindling public support for United Russia, the party that nominated him and currently holds a majority in Parliament.

At Putin’s direction, half of the 450 seats in the State Duma, the lower house of Parliament, would be filled using a proportional system based on votes for parties, with each party then filling its allotted seats. The other half would be filled by direct election of individual candidates, creating a potential opening for independent campaigns.

The new system, which the Central Election Commission is expected to unveil in the next several weeks, replaces a system of strict party-list voting. It would be the second major change to the parliamentary voting process in less than a decade and essentially amounts to a return to a system that had been in place until 2003. The proposal also comes just a year after allegations of widespread fraud in the parliamentary elections in December 2011 set off a wave of street protests in Moscow.