WORLD
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan — Pervez Musharraf stepped down from his powerful post as Pakistan's military commander today, fulfilling a key opposition demand a day before he was to be sworn in as a civilian president.
But the end of Musharraf's more than 40 years in the army casts him into uncertain waters, with opposition rivals snapping at his heels and saying today the move was too little, too late.
An emotional Musharraf relinquished his post by handing over his ceremonial baton to his successor, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, who is widely expected to maintain the army's pro-Western policies.
"(You) are the saviors of Pakistan," Musharraf said in a final speech to the troops, sniffing repeatedly and appearing to blink back tears.
Hundreds of senior officers, politicians and other civilians watched from the stands as an unsmiling Musharraf — wearing a phalanx of medals and a green sash across his uniform — reviewed the ranks to the strains of "Auld Lang Syne."
"I'm proud of this army and I was lucky to have commanded the world's best army," Musharraf said. "I will no longer command ... but my heart and my mind will always be with you."
Since seizing power in a 1999 coup, Musharraf has served as president while retaining his post as head of the armed forces. Musharraf insists that his continued rule as president is vital if Pakistan is to remain stable as it returns to democracy.
PARIS — French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that rioters who shot at police would be brought to justice as violence that rocked Paris suburbs appeared to ebb.It was the first time Sarkozy, who had just returned from China, entered the fray since the rioting broke out Sunday night. The violence, which Sarkozy called "unacceptable," eased Tuesday night after police were deployed in force and quickly rounded up youths lobbing Molotov cocktails and setting cars ablaze.The violence has drawn comparisons with riots that raged through suburbs nationwide in 2005, and has shown that anger still smolders in poor housing projects where many Arabs, blacks and other minorities live largely isolated from the rest of society.The violence erupted Sunday after the deaths of two minority teens whose 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. Prosecutor Marie-Therese de Givry denied that, saying police stayed on the scene until firefighters arrived.Sarkozy met with families of the two teens and told them that a judicial inquiry had been opened into their deaths.
KABUL, Afghanistan — 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 it was looking into the incident in Nuristan province, but did not immediately comment. NATO's International Security Assistance Force said it has conducted airstrikes against Taliban fighters in the area, but did not say when."ISAF was engaged in Nurgaram and Du Ab (districts), and in those places we used airstrikes against (Taliban)," ISAF spokesman Brig. Gen. Carlos Branco told a news conference. "The situation is not clear at all at this stage. We are carrying out the investigation and trying to get a clear picture."The engineers and laborers had been building a road for the U.S. military in mountainous Nuristan province, and were sleeping in two tents in the remote area 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."All of our poor workers have been killed," Jalili said. "I don't think the Americans were targeting our people. I'm sure it's the enemy of the Afghans who gave the Americans this wrong information."The company has requested that the U.S. military investigate the source of its information, Jalili said.Nuristan Gov. Tamim Nuristani said the coalition conducted airstrikes after receiving reports that "the enemy" was in the area, and hit the road construction workers as they were sleeping. Afghan officials often refer to the Taliban and other militants as "the enemy."
