Afghanistan

U.S. soldier killed in attack on patrol

Militants attacked U.S. troops patrolling in southeastern Afghanistan on Monday, killing one American soldier and wounding two with gunfire and rockets, the military said.

In other violence Monday, Afghan soldiers clashed with police in the southern Zabul province and Afghan troops battled militiamen in the city of Kandahar, killing two.

The American patrol came under fire near Orgun, a town in Paktika province where U.S. troops man a base close to the Pakistani border, spokesman Maj. Mark McCann said.

The two wounded soldiers were rushed to a medical facility at another base in neighboring Khost province, where they were in stable condition, McCann said.

The soldiers weren’t identified Monday night.

Ukraine

Fraud alleged in nearly tied election

Ukraine’s furiously contested presidential election ended in a dead heat Monday, forcing a runoff between a pro-Russian candidate and his reformist challenger. Thousands of demonstrators in western Ukraine alleged fraud, and international monitors said the country failed the test of democracy.

The runoff, set for Nov. 21, prolongs a campaign that has been overshadowed by worries over irregularities. The vote is seen as key to whether the former Soviet republic moves closer to the West or to Russia.

With 94.4 percent of precincts counted, pro-Kremlin Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych had 40.12 percent and top opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko had 39.15 percent, the Central Election Commission said.

Uruguay

Nation elects first leftist president

Uruguayans elected Tabare Vazquez as the nation’s first leftist president, vote tallies showed Monday, breaking a 170-year lock on power by two traditional parties and strengthening Latin America’s shift to the left.

Sunday’s vote highlighted a dramatic change for this longtime U.S. ally. Relations with the United States blossomed under outgoing President Jorge Batlle, a centrist, at a time when leftists took power in Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela, emphasizing greater distance from Washington on a range of economic, trade and foreign policy issues.

Uruguay’s Electoral Court said Monday that with 99 percent of ballots counted, Vazquez, a 64-year-old oncologist and former mayor of the capital Montevideo, had won 50.2 percent or 1,113,615 votes.

Liberia

U.N. puts death toll in mob violence at 16

A surprise burst of mob violence in Liberia’s capital last week killed 16 people, the U.N. envoy in the country said Monday, while U.N. forces gathered religious and ethnic leaders for talks to calm the tensions.

U.N. envoy to Liberia Jacques Klein said 208 people were injured in violence that broke out Thursday. Forty-sever of those were in critical condition.

Most of those killed were shot, hacked with machetes or burned alive, Klein said.

Mobs burned churches and mosques, before U.N. troops restored order by early Saturday. Combatants included Muslims of the Mandingo ethnic group and Christians of other tribes. Many of the Mandingo Muslims were ex-combatants in a 3-year civil war that ended in August 2003.