In brief: Mass grave found in Libyan town

BIN JAWWAD, Libya – Libyan government officials said Sunday they have unearthed a mass grave with 157 bodies of rebel fighters and civilians in an eastern town that was a major battleground during the country’s 2011 civil war.

It is the largest grave yet to be discovered from the conflict that began as a popular uprising and ended with the capture and killing of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi last October.

The head of the new government-run missing persons office, Omar al-Obeidi, told the Associated Press that 80 of the bodies discovered in Bin Jawwad have been identified. He said they are all from eastern Libya.

Al-Obeidi said most appear to have died from gunshot wounds and rocket strikes. Some were executed, while others were severely disfigured from rocket attacks, he said.

Woman, student immolate selves

BEIJING – A young mother and a student have become the latest people to set themselves on fire in protest against Chinese rule in Tibetan areas, a U.S. broadcaster said today.

U.S. government-backed Radio Free Asia said the 32-year-old mother and the female student died after separately immolating themselves in different provinces over the weekend.

More than 20 Tibetans have set themselves on fire in the last year to protest what they say are harsh Chinese policies that do not allow them to freely practice their religion.

Chavez says tumor was cancerous

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez revealed Sunday that a new tumor recently removed from his pelvic region was of the same type of cancer as a baseball-size growth extracted from that part of his body about eight months ago.

In his first TV appearance in nine days, Chavez said the surgery and follow-up tests showed the tumor was “a recurrence of the initially diagnosed cancer.”

He said the tumor was totally extracted and noted “the absence of lesions suggestive of cancer neither locally, neither in nearby organs, neither far away … neither metastasis, none of this thanks to God, to the diagnosis and rapid intervention.”

The 57-year-old president said he would spend several weeks recovering and then “we are going to do radiation treatment in the area … without discarding other treatment options.”