Colombia

Two more candidates killed before state, city elections

Suspected leftist guerrillas gunned down two candidates in Colombia’s upcoming state and mayoral elections after a campaign meeting in a lawless southwestern province, authorities said.

Police found the bodies of Jairo Gomez, a mayoral contender in the city of Genova, and Julio Cesar Castennanos, who was running for city council, lying in a ditch early Saturday, said Uriel Torres, a police spokesman for the Quindio region.

Torres blamed the attack on Colombia’s largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which is bent on undermining the Oct. 26 vote.

At least 23 mayoral candidates have been killed and eight others kidnapped in the run-up to the elections. The FARC has been blamed for most of the attacks.

Afghanistan

More than 40 Taliban escape from prison by digging tunnel

More than 40 Taliban militants escaped from a southern Afghanistan prison by digging a 30-foot-long tunnel and with apparent help from officials, regional leaders said Saturday.

The 41 escaped convicts — including several Taliban commanders and the brother of former Taliban defense minister Mullah Ubaidullah — disappeared late Friday from a high-security prison in the city of Kandahar, said Yousaf Pashtoon, the governor of Kandahar province.

The prisoners were among 54 arrested in recent months during fighting between Afghan government forces and insurgents.

Colorado

Air Force Academy will grant anonymity to assault victims

The Air Force Academy reversed course and said it would give confidentiality to cadets who report that they have been sexually assaulted.

Confidentiality has been a key issue in the school’s assault scandal, with civilian investigators led by former Rep. Tillie Fowler saying it will encourage victims to come forward and help solve a problem that has plagued the academy for years.

Air Force Secretary James Roche and academy officials have said the school needed to follow policy requiring all crimes to be reported without guarantee of anonymity. Friday, however, Roche said that would change.

Morocco

Talks over airliner bombing compensation stall

Talks between Libya and the families of victims of a 1989 French airliner bombing have stalled despite a Saturday deadline, and President Jacques Chirac warned that relations would suffer if a deal for more compensation isn’t made.

Libya had proposed $1 million for each family of the 170 people killed in the bombing of the French UTA airline DC-10 over Niger, but Guillaume Denoix de Saint Marc, a spokesman for the families, said the sum was too low.

Libya and the UTA families signed a framework accord Sept. 10 calling for a definitive compensation agreement within a month — by Saturday. That was one factor in prompting the U.N. Security Council last week to lift 11-year-old sanctions against Libya, long seen as a sponsor of terrorism.