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Coalition forces kill 30 Taliban fighters

KABUL, Afghanistan, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Thirty Taliban militants have been killed by U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan's Helmand province, officials said Sunday.

A statement issued by military officials in Kabul said the offensive happened Saturday night in the province's Nahr Surkh District, CNN reported. Coalition forces, it said, identified militants and fired on them, killing 30 and destroying two vehicles.

Officials also said two U.S. soldiers were wounded Sunday when their convoy was attacked by a suicide car bomber in western Afghanistan, the broadcaster said.

Obama bids Senate constituents farewell

CHICAGO, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. President-elect Barack Obama cited Abraham Lincoln Sunday in an open letter to the folks in Illinois as he resigned his Senate seat.

"Like Lincoln, I ask for your support, your prayers, and for us to 'confidently hope that all will yet be well,'" Obama said.

Lincoln also briefly represented Illinois in Congress before being elected president just in time to preside over the bloody Civil War.

Obama's letter focused on less-dire circumstances and instead cited Illinois citizens he had met on the campaign trail and how he had "learned to disagree without being disagreeable."

CNN said Obama's staff would shut down his Senate office before the end of the year while Gov. Rod Blagojevic ponders a replacement to serve out Obama's term.

Among the Democrats under consideration are Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran who is in the governor's administration.

Russian ship thwarts pirate attack

BOSSASSO, Somalia, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- A Russian frigate prevented the seizure of a vessel flying the Saudi flag from being taken over by pirates off Somalia's coast Sunday, a Russian official said.

Russian Navy spokesman Igor Dygalo said the Rabikh, which was sailing about 30 miles from the Russian frigate Neustrashimy was attacked by several pirate boats, RIA Novosti reported.

The Neustrashimy was deployed in waters off the Somali coast in late October, after Somali pirates attacked about 60 ships this year.

On Saturday, a Japanese freighter carrying South Korean and Filipino crew members was hijacked by armed pirates off Somalia in the Gulf of Aden, officials said.

The 20,000-ton cargo ship Chemstar Venus was seized, South Korean Foreign Ministry officials told the Yonhap news agency. Eighteen of the ship's 23-member crew were Filipinos and five were South Korean

It was the second hijacking of a South Korean ship since September, when a freighter was also seized by pirates off Somalia. The crew of that ship was freed unharmed after more than a month of captivity.

In September, a Ukrainian ship, the Faina, which carried tanks and heavy weaponry, was seized by pirates who have demanded a multimillion-dollar ransom in exchange for the release of the crew.

NATO and the European Union recently announced plans to increase their naval presence in the Gulf of Aden.

Powerful 7.5 quake recorded in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- The U.S. Geological Survey said a massive 7.5 earthquake was reported near Indonesia Sunday.

The quake was centered 84 miles northwest of Gorontalo in the Sulawesi region of Indonesia and was followed up by a 5.6 aftershock.

There were no immediate reports from the region and no firm word on the potential for a tsunami. A USGS analyst told United Press International the event could have stirred up some large coastal waves even if a full tsunami did not occur.

An Indian Ocean tsunami nearly four years ago caused about 225,000 deaths in Indonesia and 10 other nations.