Kenya

Powell says behavior troublesome in Africa

Promiscuity and other risky sexual behavior must change to stop the spread of AIDS in Africa, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Saturday.

Young Kenyans, including an 11-year-old girl, had a frank discussion with Powell about promiscuity, resistance to condoms and the cultural expectation that young girls will have sex with much older men.

“Those sorts of patterns of behavior have to change to protect young people,” Powell told the gathering.

Powell is in Africa to attend a signing ceremony ending north-south fighting in Sudan. The two-decade-old conflict is Africa’s longest-running civil war. Powell met with Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki after the AIDS round-table Saturday.

Afghanistan

Judge accused of links to terrorists, detained

Afghan authorities have arrested a judge for allegedly harboring the organizers of two bombings last year that killed about 12 people, including four Americans, and believe the ringleaders took their orders from an Iraqi member of al-Qaida, a senior official said Saturday.

Gen. Abdul Fatah, a senior Afghan prosecutor, said a preliminary court judge called Naqibullah was detained about two weeks ago after two men accused of organizing an Aug. 29 car-bombing against U.S. security contractor Dyncorp told investigators they stayed at his house in Kabul.

“He is accused of two things. First, he let the terrorists stay in his house. Second, he was aware of their activities but didn’t inform anyone,” Fatah said.

Pakistan

Sectarian rampage kills 11, curfew imposed

A Shiite Muslim was ambushed as he drove through this once serene Himalayan tourist destination Saturday, sparking a rampage of sectarian violence and arson that left at least 11 people dead, including a family of six that was burned alive in its home.

Authorities imposed an indefinite 24-hour curfew and army troops patrolled Gilgit to contain the violence, the second bout of unrest between rival Shiites and Sunnis there in six months.

Residents as far as 30 miles from the town said roads into Gilgit, home to about 25,000 people, had been blocked.