10 Taliban killed

10 Taliban killed

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — U.S.-led coalition and Afghan troops attacked a gathering of Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan, leaving 10 insurgents dead and 14 wounded, an Afghan official said Thursday. Four Afghan soldiers were also wounded in the attack Wednesday evening in the Daychopan district of Zabul province, said district chief Fazel Bari. The operation was launched after intelligence reports indicated that a Taliban gathering was taking place in the area, Bari said. In Kandahar province, meanwhile, the Taliban ambushed a police vehicle in Zhari district on Wednesday, killing four officers and wounding two others, said Niyaz Mohammad Sarhadi. Taliban also clashed with Afghan National Army troops in Tagab Valley, in Kapisa province, leaving five soldiers and three militants dead on Wednesday, the Defense Ministry said. Four militants were also wounded in the clash. As of Thursday, at least 383 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department.

Peace talks in doubt

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Thursday that an upcoming Mideast peace conference would not result in a final deal with the Palestinians and may not take place at all. His government moved closer to a punishing regime of power cuts to the Gaza Strip in retaliation for rocket attacks. Israel has consistently played down the gathering called by President Bush and tentatively set for November or December in Annapolis, Md. The Palestinians are seeking an agreement addressing the core issues at the heart of the conflict: final borders, the status of disputed Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees. They also want a time line for creation of a Palestinian state. Israel wants a more general document, saying it is premature to address many of these issues.

U.N. budget at $4.2B

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. secretary-general proposed a two-year budget of $4.2 billion Thursday, saying the small increase isn’t much in light of the growing demands on the United Nations to address a range of diplomatic and security challenges. While the proposed budget represents a 5 percent increase over the $3.8 billion budget for the 2006-2007, Ban Ki-Moon said it represents only $23 million in real growth, or half a percentage point. “That is not much, considering the demands upon us,” he said, naming conflicts and potential crisis areas as well as longer-term challenges of alleviating poverty, providing humanitarian aid and fighting climate change and HIV/AIDS. Later, U.N. management chief Alicia Barcena told reporters that because of inflation and exchange rates by the time the money is actually used the budget is expected to rise to $4.4 billion.

Murderers hanged

DAMASCUS, Syria — Authorities hanged five men Thursday in northern Syria for murders they committed during attempted robberies, the official SANA news agency said. The five men were sentenced to death by the Damascus Military Field Court in the northern city of Aleppo, some 220 miles north of Damascus, SANA said. The names of the men were not given.

New hearing denied

CHICAGO — A federal appeals court refused Thursday to grant former Gov. George Ryan and a co-defendant a fresh hearing on their racketeering and fraud convictions. Even the three judges on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals who dissented in the 6-3 decision wrote that they “agree with the panel majority that the evidence of the defendant’s guilt was overwhelming.” Ryan, 73, already had lost his bid to have his April 2006 conviction reversed by a three-judge panel of the appeals court. He and co-defendant Larry Warner, a Chicago businessman and longtime friend of Ryan’s, had sought to have the case considered again by all the sitting appeals judges.

‘Preppy Killer’ in court

NEW YORK — In a Manhattan courtroom where prosecutors described their evidence against him — including videotape of him selling cocaine to an undercover police officer — Robert Chambers pleaded innocent to drug charges Thursday and was ordered held without bail until a hearing next week. Still wearing the same clothes they had on when they were arrested Monday, Chambers, 41 — who gained notoriety decades ago as the “Preppy Killer” — and live-in girlfriend Shawn Kovell, 39, each pleaded innocent.

Combined dispatches