Guinea-Bissau

Ousted president agrees to cede power

Guinea-Bissau’s elected leader formally ceded power Wednesday before the eyes of West African envoys, who couldn’t coax the military junta into giving up control it grabbed three days before in a bloodless coup.

Cheering crowds marched in the capital of this impoverished coastal West African country to celebrate President Kumba Yala’s overthrow. He had become deeply unpopular in his four years in office, presiding over a government so poor it couldn’t pay its own civil servants.

Foreign ministers of six West African nations gathered in his tin-roof, single-story private home to watch him sign the document surrendering authority.

Iran

Cleric says elections should be permitted

In his first public speech in six years, Iran’s leading dissident cleric criticized the country’s hard-line Islamic leaders Wednesday, saying they should submit to elections and allow the country’s young people to choose their future.

Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri addressed his followers after five years of house arrest and several months of illness.

About 300 students crowed into a small building in central Qom, a holy city 80 miles southwest of Tehran, to listen to the 81-year-old cleric, who was once the designated successor of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

In Iran’s Islamic government, unelected bodies controlled by hard-liners hold the levers of power.

Tokyo

Divorces reach record in Japan

Japan’s divorce rate rose to a record last year, reflecting an increasing number of middle-aged and older couples who are parting ways.

The number of divorces rose for a 12th straight year in 2002, according to recently released government statistics that provided the latest confirmation that the stigma long associated with breaking up is fading in Japan.

According to the nation’s Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, a record 289,836 couples divorced last year, up 1.4 percent from the previous high of 285,911 in 2001.

Colombia

Rebel group accuses military in kidnapping

Colombia’s main rebel group denied responsibility for the abduction of eight foreign tourists, saying the military did it with plans of staging a dramatic rescue.

The eight backpackers — four Israelis, two Britons, a German and a Spaniard — were snatched at gunpoint Friday from cabins in the archaeological ruins of Ciudad Perdid.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, said in the communique posted on its Web site Tuesday that “Colombian military intelligence” had carried out the pre-dawn kidnapping “to show results to (President) Alvaro Uribe.”

Colombia’s ambassador to Israel, David Delarosa, gave the FARC statement no credibility, but expressed confidence the kidnapping drama would end well.

Indonesia

Fifteen arrested for alleged bomb plot

Police announced Wednesday that they had arrested 15 terrorism suspects during the past month for allegedly planning to bomb the national police headquarters and the main Jakarta city police station.

Some of the suspects also were accused of harboring fugitives wanted for the bombing of two Bali nightclubs last year and the JW Marriott Hotel here in the capital last month. The suicide attacks killed more than 200 people.

Police said some of the suspects had participated in seven meetings to plan the attacks.