Washington, D.C.

Lawmaker urges against blocking CIA nomination

The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee warned fellow Democrats in the Senate on Sunday against trying to block the nomination of Rep. Porter Goss as CIA director, saying that would be picking the wrong fight in this election year.

Democrats should ask tough questions of Goss, R-Fla., at Senate confirmation hearings next month, but “my view is this is the wrong fight,” Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“To get stuck in a fight about Porter Goss after tough questions are asked of Porter Goss is not where we ought to be this fall,” said Harman, who has no vote on the matter because the Senate confirms presidential nominees.

Goss resigned as chairman of the House intelligence panel last week after President Bush nominated him to replace George Tenet at CIA.

Wildfire forces at least 300 to evacuate

An out-of-control wildfire roared Sunday through an old mining town in the Northern California mountains, destroying 20 homes and forcing nearly 300 residents to flee, officials said.

The day-old blaze quickly grew to 7,600 acres and was only about 10 percent contained.

Nearly 100 homes and 20 other buildings were threatened in the town, which is 20 miles east of Redding.

“It didn’t take long for this one to move through. The winds are very erratic and going in every direction,” said Linda Galvan, spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The cause was still under investigation.

Afghanistan

Army sent to calm pre-election fighting

Government troops intervened in Afghanistan’s latest outbreak of deadly fighting between warlords, flying from the capital to the far west on U.S. and NATO airplanes to retake an air base contested in the violence, officials said Sunday.

Meanwhile, in another illustration of the insecurity dogging the run-up to October elections, Taliban militants killed a community leader for encouraging people to vote and gunned down six Afghan soldiers at a checkpoint, officials said.

The U.S.-trained Afghan National Army’s move in the far western province of Herat was the latest instance of President Hamid Karzai trying to quell local conflicts in a country where large areas are controlled by warlords.

India

Bomb kills 16 during parade

A powerful bomb killed at least 16 people, many of them schoolchildren, and wounded about 40 others as they assembled for an Independence Day parade Sunday in the northeastern state of Assam, authorities said.

Although no group claimed responsibility for the attack, Assam’s chief minister, Tarun Gogoi, told reporters he believed it was the work of separatist rebels from the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom. The group, known as ULFA, is one of numerous separatist movements that for decades have been battling Indian security forces in the country’s troubled northeastern Himalayan region.

Authorities said the blast occurred as schoolchildren gathered with teachers, parents and others at a college in the town of Dhemaji in Assam.

Sudan

Rwandan troops arrive to assist in Darfur

Dozens of Rwandan soldiers arrived Sunday in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region, the first foreign armed force deployed in the area since Arab militiamen began a rampage against black African farmers, killing thousands.

The 141 Rwandan troops were airlifted to the huge, desert province of western Sudan on a mandate to protect unarmed military observers monitoring a four-month cease-fire that humanitarian groups say has largely been ignored by Arab militiamen who have continued attacks.

The Rwandans are part of a 300-member African Union protection force Sudan was pressured to allow into Darfur. Some 30,000 people have been killed in the region, according to the United Nations.