Turnout high for Zimbabwe election
HARARE, Zimbabwe, March 29 (UPI) -- Voting in Zimbabwe's national election was mostly orderly Saturday and turnout was high, police and poll watchers said.
President Robert Mugabe, seeking a sixth term, faced challenges from Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, and Simba Makoni, a former Mugabe ally running as an independent.
Voters waited in long lines, often for hours. A Voice of America reporter in Bulawayo said she spent three hours and 15 minutes in line.
Police reported only one violent incident, a bomb that went off at the home in Bulawayo of a member of Parliament from the ruling Zanu-PF party. No injuries were reported.
Election observers said there appeared to be police intimidation at some polling places.
Results are expected to be known by Monday. To claim victory, a candidate must have at least 50 percent of the vote to avoid a run-off election in three weeks.
Nearly 6 million people are eligible to vote in the struggling African nation.
U.S., Britain back Iraq govt. in Basra
BAGHDAD, March 29 (UPI) -- U.S. planes bombed a suspected militia stronghold Saturday in Basra and British forces shelled the city as sectarian violence continued to rock Iraq.
The U.S. military is investigating a report of civilian casualties in the U.S. bombing, CNN reported.
The fighting remained heavy in Basra, the heavily Shiite city in southern Iraq, and in Baghdad. At least 75 people were reported killed in Sadr City, radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr's stronghold in Baghdad.
CNN reported nearly 500 have been wounded in the recent days of fighting.
An Iraqi military official said at least 40 members of the Iraqi National Police have abandoned the force recently and taken their U.S.-issued weapons to join Sadr's Medhi Army.
The military reported two U.S. soldiers died when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in eastern Baghdad.
In other parts of Iraq, U.S. and Iraqi force Saturday detained nine suspects -- some with alleged ties to al-Qaida in Iraq -- during operations targeting the terror network in central and northern Iraq, U.S. military officials said.
Report: Merkel to miss Beijing Olympics
BERLIN, March 29 (UPI) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel has become the first world leader to announce she will not be at the Summer Olympics in Beijing, a German official confirmed.
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in addition to confirming Merkel's decision, said he and Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble will avoid the opening ceremony, The Guardian reported.
The crackdown on protests in Tibet and the Chinese government's claim that the Dalai Lama instigated rioting there have brought renewed attention to the lack of democracy in China, the newspaper said.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Thursday he would stay away from Beijing. Czech President Vaclav Klaus, who had previously said he would attend the games, followed suit almost immediately.
Foreign ministers from the 27 EU member states were expected to discuss the Olympics and Tibet in Slovakia Saturday, attempting to work out a common position.
Brothers file claim for S.F. tiger attack
SAN FRANCISCO, March 29 (UPI) -- The two men who survived a tiger attack last year at the San Francisco Zoo have filed a claim against the city, their attorneys said.
Brothers Kulbir Dhaliwal and Paul Dhaliwal claim they are owed unspecified amount of money because the zoo's negligence led to the Christmas Day attack, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The two were mauled by a 243-pound Siberian tiger named Tatiana that escaped its enclosure. The tiger killed 19-year-old Paul Dhaliwal's close friend Carlos Sousa Jr., 17, before police shot and killed the big cat.
"Now that we've filed the claims, we'll see whether or not the city is willing to admit that it kept a dangerous animal in a dangerous habitat," said attorney Shepard Kopp, who, with Mark Geragos, is representing the brothers.
City officials have 45 days under state law to offer a settlement or to reject the claim.
"The Dhaliwal brothers' attorneys have made clear from the beginning that they intended to sue the city, and these claims are the procedural first step," said Matt Dorsey, spokesman for City Attorney Dennis Herrera.
