Center-left executive elected Guatemala’s president
Center-leftist Alvaro Colom won Guatemala’s presidential election Sunday against a retired general who wants to use the army and emergency laws to fight a brutal crime wave.
Colom, a quiet textile businessman, had 52.6 percent of the vote while rightist Gen. Otto Perez Molina, a former head of military intelligence, had 47.4 percent after votes from 95 percent of polling stations were counted.
The Central American country, a U.S. free-trade partner, has been plagued by violent drug cartels and youth street gangs since the end of its civil war in 1996 and now has one of the world’s highest murder rates.
Colom says Guatemala will cut crime only by attacking poverty and removing corrupt police and judges but admits that drug gangsters have found their way into his National Unity for Hope party.
The election campaign was marred by violence, with more than 50 political-party activists or candidates for Congress or local elections killed. Colom’s party has been hardest hit with almost 20 party members murdered since last year.
Beijing
Gates to press China on military, Iran
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in China on Sunday, intending to question top Chinese officials about the purpose of their military buildup and to pressure them to stop providing arms to Iran.
China denies the U.S. charge that it does not fully disclose its defense budget. But the country has been less than forthcoming about the reasons for quickening the pace of its military spending.
For their part, Chinese officials are likely to press Gates for reassurance that the United States remains opposed to Taiwan holding a referendum on formal independence.
Gates will spend about two days in Beijing before traveling to South Korea and Japan. In addition to holding discussions with senior military leaders, Gates is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
São Paulo, Brazil
Jet crash kills 8 in neighborhood
An executive jet crashed in a heavily populated neighborhood of São Paulo on Sunday, killing at least eight people and turning homes into a pile of smoky rubble just months after the city was the site of Brazil’s deadliest air disaster.
The plane, a Learjet 35 belonging to a Brazilian air-taxi company, slammed into several houses shortly after taking off, said Lucia Ferreira, a spokeswoman for airport authority Infraero.
The eight killed were the pilot, the co-pilot and at least six people on the ground, including a child, officials said. The plane reportedly was not carrying any passengers.
Investigators were trying to determine the cause.
On July 17, a Tam Linhas Aereas SA jetliner slammed into a building in São Paulo, killing 199 people.
Moscow
Russian nationalists hold yearly rallies
Russian nationalists chanting slogans against foreign immigrants and Jews marched through a deserted area of the capital Sunday in a carefully controlled display that managed to avoid the violence and arrests of last year’s National Unity Day observance.
An estimated 2,000 marchers paraded for about a mile along the Moscow River embankment before gathering for a rally near the grand Stalin-era edifice the Ukraine Hotel.
Similar nationalist rallies took place in the Russian cities of Vladivostok, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk and St. Petersburg.
Seattle Times news services