London: Commonwealth bans Zimbabwe from councils

Commonwealth nations suspended Zimbabwe from their councils for a year Tuesday, stopping short of expelling the country for the “high level of politically motivated violence” that marred recent elections.

The suspension was announced by Australian Prime Minister John Howard, head of the panel charged with considering action against Zimbabwe after disputed March 9-11 elections that gave President Robert Mugabe another six years in office.

Howard said the decision was based on a report from a group of 64 Commonwealth election observers who concluded that the poll was seriously flawed and had not allowed for the free expression of the wishes of the electorate.

Romania: Capital police seize illegal horses, carts

Authorities halted dozens of horses and carts and escorted them to a city pound Tuesday, fining their owners as part of a crackdown on illegal equestrian traffic in Bucharest.

Horses pulling carts of scrap metal to sell to recycling companies are a common sight on the capital’s crowded streets. A ban on such traffic more than a year ago has had little effect.

But starting Tuesday, the city took measures to enforce the ban, with fines of up to $12 steep, considering the meager income of most scrap-metal hawkers.

In the Romanian countryside, horses and donkeys are the most common forms of transportation.

Peru: Inca village discovered

Explorers have found the extensive ruins of an Inca village, complete with human remains, sprawled spectacularly across a mountain in southern Peru, the expedition leaders said Monday.

The ancient settlement clings to the slopes of a rugged peak in Vilcabamba, a region of the Andes Mountains where the Incas hid after the Spanish conquest. It consists of more than 100 structures, including a ridge-top truncated pyramid, ceremonial platforms and a five-mile-long aqueduct channel.

The settlement is 290 miles southeast of Lima and about 24 miles southwest of Machu Picchu, Peru’s most famous Inca ruins and its top tourist destination.