In brief: Afghans: Airstrikes kill 14 road workers

U.S.-led coalition troops killed 14 road construction workers in airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan after receiving faulty intelligence, Afghan officials said today.

The coalition said that it was looking into the incident but refused further comment.

The engineers and laborers had been building a road for the U.S. military in mountainous Nuristan province and were sleeping in two tents when they were killed Monday night, said Sayed Noorullah Jalili, director of the Kabul-based road construction company Amerifa. There were no survivors, he said.

Jalili earlier said 22 workers were killed, but he said the latest reports indicated the death toll was 14. He did not say why the preliminary figures were higher.

The report could not be independently verified because the area is remote and inaccessible.

Tokyo

Chinese warship visits Japan

A Chinese warship dropped anchor off Tokyo today in the communist nation’s first military visit to Japan since World War II, symbolizing improving ties between the two Asian giants.

The port call by the guided missile destroyer Shenzhen was part of an exchange that will bring a Japanese warship on a visit to China at a later date. It was the first visit ever to Japan by Communist China’s People’s Liberation Army.

The visit took place amid concerns in Japan over surging defense spending in China, but the commanding officer assured his Japanese hosts that Tokyo has nothing to fear from Chinese military might.

“There is no need for concern, but we must be able to protect ourselves,” Rear Adm. Xiao Xinnian told reporters aboard the ship. “China does not want to be a superpower or take over the world.”

Villiers-le-Bel, France

Rioting spreads; shots fired at police

Youths rampaged for a third night in the tough suburbs north of Paris and violence spread to a southern city late Tuesday as police struggled to contain rioters who have burned cars and buildings and – in an ominous turn – shot at officers.

A senior police union official warned that “urban guerrillas” had joined the unrest, saying the violence was worse than during three weeks of rioting that raged around French cities in 2005, when firearms were rarely used.

Young people set more cars on fire in and around Villiers-le-Bel, the Paris suburb where the latest trouble erupted, and 22 youths were taken into custody, the regional government said. In the southern city of Toulouse, 20 cars were set ablaze, and fires at two libraries were brought under control, police said.

The trigger was the deaths Sunday of two minority teens when their motorscooter collided with a police car in Villiers-le-Bel, a blue-collar town on Paris’ northern edge. Residents claimed the officers left without helping the teens.

Amritsar, India

Dalai Lama backs Myanmar protests

The Dalai Lama said Tuesday he supported the recent pro-democracy demonstrations in Myanmar and condemned the crackdown on the Buddhist monks who led them, saying it reminded him of China’s oppression of Tibetans.

Myanmar’s military rulers crushed a series of pro-democracy protests in September, killing at least 15 people according to information authorities gave the U.N., and detaining nearly 3,000 protesters. Monks were at the forefront of the movement. Diplomats and dissidents say the death toll was much higher.

“When I saw pictures of people beating monks I was immediately reminded of inside Tibet, in our own case, where just a few days ago monks were beaten by Chinese forces,” the Dalai Lama said.

“I am fully committed, and I have full support and sympathy for the demonstrators,” the Tibetan spiritual leader told reporters.