Briefly

Zimbabwe

Mugabe sworn in as president

President Robert Mugabe was sworn in for another six-year term Sunday and urged fellow Zimbabweans  and his African neighbors  to join his fight against Western imperialism.

Mugabe, 78, took the oath of office at the colonial State House mansion after being declared the winner of elections that many observers said were deeply flawed. A 21-gun salute sounded and four MiG fighter jets thundered overhead.

Mugabe won the March 9-11 election against challenger Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, who posed the most significant threat to Mugabe’s 22 years of autocratic rule.

The government and Mugabe’s ruling party have been widely accused of rigging votes, orchestrating state-backed political violence and abusing the nation’s laws and constitution.

But Mugabe said Britain, Zimbabwe’s former colonial power, and its “white allies” in the West were critical of the poll because Tsvangirai, their favored candidate, lost.

“But it is our people who decide, who must say so, not you, sirs, and not one person in 10 Downing Street,” the official residence of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Mugabe said.

Yugoslavia

U.S. denies spy allegations

The U.S. Embassy denied allegations Sunday that one of its diplomats received classified documents from a Yugoslav official who was arrested on suspicions he had spied for the United States.

Yugoslav military officials arrested Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister Momcilo Perisic on Thursday in a Belgrade restaurant, along with the American diplomat, John David Neighbor. The diplomat was released Friday, and Perisic was freed Saturday.

The military said Perisic was giving documents to Neighbor that were “relevant for the defense of the country.” Other Yugoslav officials have said the documents could have been used against former President Slobodan Milosevic at his war crimes trial in The Hague, Netherlands.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Paul Denig told The Associated Press on Sunday that the allegations of espionage were false.

“We were unhappy with the arrest of our diplomat … and with the claim that documents were passed, since this is untrue,” Denig said.

Washington, D.C.

Coast Guard drug hauls rise

A post-Sept. 11 policy of “pushing America’s borders out to sea,” coupled with the deployment of heavily armed helicopters against oceangoing drug smugglers, has resulted in the Coast Guard seizing record hauls of illegal narcotics this year.

Last year, the Coast Guard captured about 138,000 pounds of drugs  mostly cocaine  worth about $4.5 billion. This year, it already has seized 72,000 pounds worth $2.4 billion.

“In the past, drug smugglers using what we call ‘go fast’ boats were able to outrun anything we had,” said Capt. Ken Ward, Coast Guard chief of law enforcement. “Now we can stop them cold.”

Called Operation New Frontier, the new method puts oceangoing cutters carrying MH-68 helicopters armed with MK-40 machine guns and high-impact .50-caliber sniper rifles  along with high-speed 26-foot interdiction craft  against the smugglers.