World in brief: Bush approved raids on Iranians

An order from President Bush authorized a series of U.S. raids against Iranians in Iraq as part of a broad military offensive, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday.

Bush issued the order several months ago, Rice told the New York Times as she prepared to visit the Middle East. She said the president acted “after a period of time in which we saw increasing activity” among Iranians in Iraq “and increasing lethality in what they were producing.”

Five Iranians were detained by U.S.-led forces this week after a raid on an Iranian government liaison office in northern Iraq, a move that has frayed even further the relations between the two countries. The United States accuses Iran of helping provide roadside bombs that have killed American troops in Iraq, and a bitter standoff already exists over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Tokyo

Tsunami warnings issued after quake

An 8.3 magnitude earthquake struck off Japan’s northern coast in the Pacific today, setting off tsunami warnings and sending thousands of residents along the archipelago’s eastern coast fleeing to higher ground.

A tsunami warning also was issued for Alaska’s western Aleutian islands and a tsunami watch was issued for Hawaii.

Japan’s Meteorological Agency said a small wave hit the shore near the town of Nemuro in northeastern Japan more than an hour after the quake and after officials detected a fall in the level of the tide. Most areas said there had been no visible change to the sea level.

The quake struck about 1:24 p.m. local time about 310 miles east of Etorofu, the largest of a disputed four-island chain known as the Northern Territories in Japan and the Kuril islands in Russia, the agency said. The quake struck 19 miles below the seabed.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the quake, Hokkaido state police spokesman Shinji Yamakoshi said.

Mogadishu, Somalia

Last stronghold of Islamists captured

Ethiopian-backed government forces captured the last remaining stronghold of the Islamic movement in southern Somalia, the Somali defense minister said Friday, hours after warlords met with the president and promised to enlist their militiamen in the army.

The southern town of Ras Kamboni fell after five days of heavy fighting, Defense Minister Col. Barre “Hirale” Aden Shire told the Associated Press. He said government troops backed by Ethiopian forces and MiG fighter jets chased fleeing Islamic fighters into nearby forests and the fighting would continue. He did not give casualty figures.

Ras Kamboni is in a rugged coastal area a few miles from the Kenyan border. It is not far from the site of a U.S. airstrike Monday targeting suspected al-Qaida militants – the first U.S. offensive in Somalia since 18 American soldiers were killed here in 1993.