LA PAZ, Bolivia - President Carlos Mesa, his 19-month-old government unraveling amid swelling street protests and a crippling blockade of the Bolivian capital, announced his resignation in a nationally televised address.

Mesa addressed his countrymen late Monday, hours after riot police fired tear gas to scatter demonstrators trying to lay siege to the Government Palace.

"This is as far as I go," he told them. "I have decided to present my resignation as president of the republic."

It was his second offer to step down in three months. Mesa also submitted his resignation during similar protests in March, arguing the country was becoming ungovernable. Lawmakers rejected his offer, essentially giving him a new mandate.

This time, too, he suggested he might leave the matter up to the legislature. Mesa said he would "continue to be president until Congress makes a decision about the future of the country."

KABUL, Afghanistan - A deadly suicide bombing at a mosque and an attempt to down a U.S. military aircraft with a shoulder-launched missile may signal the start of a campaign of violence by al-Qaida and Taliban rebels to destabilize Afghanistan's legislative elections, President Hamid Karzai's spokesman said today.Twenty people were killed in the June 1 blast in the southern city of Kandahar during the funeral of a moderate Muslim cleric who had spoken out against Taliban-led insurgents. Among the dead was the Kabul police chief and six of his bodyguards.U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara confirmed that a shoulder-launched, surface-to-air missile was fired at U.S. aircraft on June 1. He said such attacks were infrequent and described it as an "isolated incident."Ludin said the Afghan government believed the attacks "were in fact related" and "the aim was to create maximum effect ... maximum shock among the people."

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan said Monday it handed over a senior al-Qaida suspect to the United States even though he had been the country's most wanted man for allegedly masterminding two bloody attempts to blow up President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.Some Pakistani officials have described Abu Farraj al-Libbi as al-Qaida's latest No. 3 man, after Osama bin Laden and Egyptian surgeon Ayman al-Zawahri. However, he did not appear on the FBI list of the world's most-wanted terrorists, and his exact role in al-Qaida remains murky.The Libyan terror suspect was flown out of Pakistan to the United States, Col. James Yonts, the U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan, said.Al-Libbi was captured during a shootout with Pakistani agents May 2. He had long been sought for two bombings that narrowly missed Musharraf in December 2003 and a suicide attack aimed at Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in July 2004. Neither leader was hurt but 26 people died.

ORANJESTAD, Aruba - About 700 volunteers joined police, soldiers and FBI agents on Monday, combing scrubland and beaches on Aruba's southeastern tip in an unprecedented search for an Alabama teenager who vanished a week ago on a trip to the Dutch Caribbean island.Aruba's government let 4,000 civil servants off work early at 2 p.m. to hunt for Natalee Holloway, 18, of Mountain Brook, Ala. The expanded search began a day after police charged two men in her disappearance.The honors student vanished May 30 while on a five-day trip with more than 100 classmates celebrating their high school graduation. Seven chaperones accompanied them.