The World in Brief

Police, gunmen clash in Albania drug raid

TIRANA, Albania -- Hundreds of Albanian police, backed by armored vehicles, stormed a lawless southern village Monday after suspected marijuana growers purportedly fired rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and machine guns at officers during a drug raid.

Police said no one was hurt in the hostilities in and around Lazarat, a major marijuana-producing center 140 miles south of the capital, Tirana.

Gangs based in Lazarat are believed to produce about 900 metric tons of cannabis a year, worth about $6.1 billion -- roughly half of the small Balkan country's gross domestic product. Over the past few weeks, Albanian authorities have launched a nationwide operation to uproot the cannabis plantations.

About 500 lightly armed police, including special forces officers and the country's police chief, surrounded the village of 5,000 overnight after a smaller force was repelled over the weekend.

A police spokesman said officers took control of the village Monday after exchanging fire with nearly 30 armed men hiding in a four-story building complex.

Bombs kill at least 27 Syrians in Aleppo

BEIRUT -- Syrian military helicopters dropped barrel bombs on a rebel-held neighborhood in the northern city of Aleppo on Monday, cleaving the fronts of apartment buildings and killing at least 27 people, activists said.

Government aircraft have pounded districts under opposition control in the divided city for months with the makeshift bombs -- huge canisters packed with explosives and shrapnel that cause extensive damage on impact. Activists say about 2,000 people have been killed in such attacks in Aleppo this year alone.

Monday's air raids targeted the Sukkari neighborhood on the southern side of the city, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Aleppo Media Center said.

The Observatory said at least 27 people were killed, while the Aleppo Media Center put the death toll at 30.

The Aleppo Media Center said the barrels struck near an aid distribution center, which in part explained the large number of casualties.

The Observatory said a second bomb struck as people were trying to help the wounded from the initial bombing.

Argentine leader: Can't pay debt in time

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- President Cristina Fernandez said Argentina can't comply with U.S. court orders to pay $1.5 billion to winners of a decade-long legal battle over defaulted debt, the position her country was left in Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear her government's final appeal.

Delivering a nationally broadcast address Monday night, Fernandez expressed willingness to negotiate with the winners but said there is simply no way that Argentina can pay in cash, in full, starting just two weeks from now.

"What I cannot do as president is submit the country to such extortion," Fernandez said.

Under the U.S. court orders, Argentina must hand over $907 million to the plaintiffs before June 30 or lose the ability to use the U.S. financial system to pay an equal amount to holders of other Argentine bonds. Fernandez said the total owed, including interest, would be $1.5 billion.

Paying that could mean defaulting on the vast majority of the country's performing debts, which are held by bondholders who agreed previously to provide debt relief that enabled Argentina to rebound from its economic crisis of 2001, she said.

Fernandez said she has experts working on ways to avoid such a default and keep Argentina's promises to pay those bondholders.

Buddhist group kills 3 Muslim Sri Lankans

ALUTHGAMA, Sri Lanka -- Hard-line Buddhists hurled gasoline bombs and looted homes and businesses in attacks in several Muslim towns in southwestern Sri Lanka, killing three Muslims and seriously wounding more than 50 people, authorities said Monday.

The overnight attacks were led by a mob from Bodu Bala Sena, or Buddhist Power Force, which opposes the country's Muslim minority.

The group has been gaining followers and is believed to have state support.

The violence in the towns of Aluthgama, Darga Nagar and Beruwala broke out after a Sunday afternoon rally by Bodu Bala Sena. Video clips show the group's general secretary, the Rev. Galagoda Atte Gnanasara, telling the crowd that Muslim-owned shops were in danger.

Associated Press journalists saw dozens of shops gutted, as well as motorbikes and bicycles piled up and set on fire. Residents said mosques were also defaced.

Speaking to reporters in Colombo, Gnanasara said the Buddhists were angry over a purported attack on the driver of a Buddhist monk.

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A Section on 06/17/2014

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