London

AK-47 inventor lends name to vodka

A new product introduced in London brings together two of Russia’s most famous exports: vodka and the AK-47 assault rifle.

What ties them together? Both are named after Gen. Mikhail Kalashnikov.

Kalashnikov, 84, who invented the AK-47, was in London Monday for the official release of Kalashnikov vodka, which is distilled in St. Petersburg, Russia, and imported to England.

The vodka retails for about $24 for a 22.5-fluid ounce bottle. It is available at several clubs throughout London with a U.S. release planned for next year.

Indonesia

Voters oust president

Indonesian voters, frustrated by pervasive corruption and economic malaise, ousted President Megawati Sukarnoputri in a run-off election Monday, awarding her former chief security minister a landslide victory.

A national sample of districts showed that Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, 55, a retired army general with U.S. military training who portrays himself as a cautious reformer, would capture about 61 percent of the vote.

Despite a turbulent political history, Indonesians finished voting in their first direct election for president early Monday afternoon with no reports of election violence. The task of conveying vote totals to Jakarta from more than half a million polling stations, some deep in the rainforest and others high in the mountains, means that final results will not be available for at least several days.

Gaza Strip

Israeli airstrike kills two Hamas militants

Two Hamas militants were killed Monday when an explosion ripped through their vehicle in Gaza City in an Israeli airstrike, the second in as many days. Eight other people were injured, hospital officials said.

Hamas threatened to retaliate with suicide bombings inside Israel.

Israel is planning to withdraw its soldiers and dismantle all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza next year, and analysts predict escalating violence as the pullout approaches.

In another development Monday, masked Palestinian gunmen killed a suspected collaborator in a public square in the West Bank, shooting the bound man before hundreds of onlookers, including schoolchildren, witnesses said.

The body of a second alleged informer was found in a nearby rural area.

The violent Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, a group with ties to Yasser Arafat’s ruling Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the killings. The group said in a leaflet that the two men — Fadel Oudeh and Amjad Ajaj — helped Israel kill three senior militants over the past year.

Afghanistan

Bomb attack misses vice president, minister

A deputy to U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai escaped a roadside bombing in northern Afghanistan on Monday, just four days after Karzai himself was targeted as he tried to hit the campaign trail for landmark Oct. 9 elections.

Meanwhile, two U.S. soldiers and several militants were killed in firefights in the volatile southeast Monday, further underlining fragile security ahead of the vote.

Nayiamatullah Shahrani, one of four Afghan vice presidents, and Urban Development Minister Gul Agha Sherzai were on their way to inspect a road project in northern Kunduz province when the explosion rocked their convoy, police said.

The remote-controlled bomb, hidden at a roadside in Khanabad district, damaged a car in the 20-vehicle convoy that was carrying Shahrani’s bodyguards, slightly hurting one of them with flying glass, Police Chief Mutaleb Beg said.

Beg blamed “enemies” for the attack, but didn’t elaborate.