Troops destroy training facility

Pakistani troops backed by helicopters firing missiles destroyed an al-Qaida-linked training facility in a northwestern tribal area near the Afghan border today, killing at least 20 people, officials said.

The pre-dawn attack targeted a religious school compound holding 70-80 militants in Chingai village near the town of Khar, the main town in the Bajur tribal district, said army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan.

Sultan said the attack targeted terrorists training at the facility, but local leaders said those killed were civilians.

SAO PAULO, Brazil

Da Silva re-elected in landslide vote

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won a second term in a landslide victory Sunday with Brazilians rewarding their first working class leader after he helped ease grinding poverty while improving the economy of Latin America’s largest country.

The leftist former union leader, who had the support of tens of millions of poor voters, easily topped center-right rival Geraldo Alckmin, whose tepid campaign style and robotic image failed to win over ordinary Brazilians.

With 99 percent of the votes counted, Silva had 61 percent support compared to 39 percent for Alckmin, Sao Paulo state’s former governor.

OAXACA, Mexico

Police seize center from protesters

Federal police backed by armored vehicles and water cannons tore down barricades and stormed embattled Oaxaca on Sunday, seizing control of the city center from protesters who had held it for five months.

At least one demonstrator was killed in clashes. Protesters said late Sunday that a second had died though authorities did not confirm it.

As night fell, protesters decided to abandon the center and regroup at a local university. They pledged to continue their battle to get Gov. Ulises Ruiz to resign, even as police tore down banners and tents that had served for months as the headquarters of often demonstrations.

BELGRADE, Serbia

Officials report charter adoption

Serbia’s top leaders said Sunday that voters approved a new constitution reasserting Serbia’s claim over the U.N.-administered Kosovo province, a predominantly ethnic Albanian region whose status is the focus of international negotiations.

Election officials and an independent commission also predicted the charter’s adoption, based on early returns from the weekend referendum. But official results were not expected until today.

Serbia’s opposition Liberal Party charged there was “massive fraud” at polling stations in the final hours of voting, with people allegedly voting several times and without identification papers.