In brief: Dozens killed in suicide attacks

ISLAMABAD – A pair of suicide bombers attacked a large gathering of anti-Taliban elders inside a government compound in northwest Pakistan on Monday, killing at least 41 people in one of the worst terror strikes in the volatile tribal belt this year.

The attack occurred in the town of Ghalanai at the administrative headquarters of Mohmand, a region along the Afghan border that continues to see periodic clashes between Taliban militants and Pakistani troops.

Witnesses said more than 300 people were inside the building when the two attackers appeared. One of the bombers was dressed in a police uniform and was able to walk into the offices where the crowd had gathered. A second bomber was stopped at a perimeter security gate. Both men detonated their explosives seconds apart.

‘Military fortresses’ vowed for islands

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea’s president vowed today to turn five islands along the tense border with North Korea into “military fortresses” with jobs for permanent civilian communities, including those destroyed in a North Korean artillery attack last month.

President Lee Myung-bak’s comments came as the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff flew to Seoul to give reassurances of the U.S. commitment to the country’s defense, and as the top diplomats from the U.S., Japan and South Korea gathered in Washington in a show of unity. The diplomats urged the North to stop its “provocative and belligerent” behavior and abandon its nuclear arms program.

Probe set to enter orbit around Venus

TOKYO – A Japanese probe has made its final adjustments to enter orbit around Venus on a multiyear mission that could shed light on the climate of Earth’s mysterious neighbor.

The probe, called Akatsuki, which means “dawn,” would be the first Japan has ever placed in orbit around another planet.

Scientists said they would know later today whether the probe had successfully entered its orbit.

Akatsuki is designed to monitor volcanic activity on the planet and provide data on its climate and its thick cloud cover.

Missing balloonists found dead in Italy

VIESTE, Italy – The bodies of two missing U.S. hot-air balloonists were found Monday off Italy’s Adriatic Sea coastline when the wreckage of their balloon was caught in the nets of a fishing trawler.

The pair, Richard Abruzzo and Carol Rymer Davis, were last heard from on Sept. 29 when they sent a distress signal to air traffic controllers in Brindisi that their aircraft was rapidly losing altitude in bad weather.