Cyprus: Opposition candidate wins presidential vote

Opposition candidate Tassos Papadopoulos, with strong backing from communists and other leftists, won Sunday’s presidential election after a campaign in which he criticized the incumbent for giving too much away in efforts to reunify the divided island.

The election came ahead of a Feb. 28 deadline to decide on a controversial U.N. plan for the reunification of the Mediterranean island, making that decision Papadopoulos’ first key task.

According to final official results, Papadopoulos won with 51.55 percent of votes cast, compared with 38.8 percent for right-wing incumbent Glafcos Clerides.

Cyprus has been split into a Greek Cypriot-controlled south and a Turkish-occupied north since Turkey invaded in 1974 in the wake of an abortive coup by supporters of union with Greece. A breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the north is only recognized by Turkey, which has 40,000 troops there.

Afghanistan: Squatters move in at former Buddha site

The United Nations said Sunday authorities were looking for new housing for 100 impoverished families who recently moved into cliffside caves that surround the area of the famed Buddha statues destroyed two years ago by the Taliban in central Afghanistan.

The families appeared to have moved into the caves in Bamiyan province in a bid to get new houses from aid organizations, U.N. spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva said.

About 105 families were moved out of the caves last year by the provincial governor and promised new homes, about half of which have already been built with help from aid groups, Almeida e Silva told reporters in the capital. The rest of the houses are expected to be finished in the next few months.

U.N. agencies were meeting Sunday in Bamiyan to review the situation and see what could be done.

Bamiyan was home to the pair of towering Buddhas that were carved into a sandstone cliff overlooking Bamiyan town 1,500 years ago.

Lebanon: Syrian truck fire kills 17

A Syrian military truck carrying diesel fuel overturned and caught fire Sunday at a Lebanese-Syrian border crossing, killing at least 17 people and injuring several others.

The military truck was coming from Syria when it apparently lost its brakes and struck a Lebanese customs and immigration office, Lebanese security officials said on condition of anonymity.

The truck overturned on several cars at the Masnaa mountain crossing point, on the Lebanese side. It then caught fire, setting the office and several cars ablaze, the officials said.

Witnesses said charred bodies were removed from the cars and taken away in ambulances. Lebanese soldiers tried to keep away scores of people rushing to the scene looking for loved ones.

Beijing: Air China suspends service to Kuwait

Citing increasing tensions in the Persian Gulf, Air China has suspended its one flight from southern Pakistan to Kuwait, the government said.

Air China has only the one route in the region — a round-trip from Beijing to Karachi, Pakistan, and on to Kuwait.

The move comes amid signs that U.S. military action against Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq, which borders Kuwait, may be imminent. Air China called the service suspension temporary and said it expected the entire route will resume “as soon as the situation becomes stable.”

The Beijing-Karachi leg of the route will remain in operation, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, quoting sources from Air China.

Air China employees in Kuwait will remain at work, Xinhua said.