3 U.S. troops missing in Iraq
IRAQ — In Iraq, U.S. officials held out hope that three missing American soldiers were still alive nearly a week after they were believed captured by Al Qaeda fighters southwest of Baghdad. In Washington, Democratic senators met with White House staff to try to hammer out a compromise bill on funding the war in Iraq, as both sides sought to avoid a second veto showdown. Meanwhile, the U.S. death toll in Iraq topped 3,400.
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Pope goes west
In his first trip to Latin America, Pope Benedict XVI did not mince words. He blamed Marxism and capitalism for much of the region’s woes, defended the church’s campaign of centuries ago to convert indigenous peoples, warned against legalized abortion and contraception, and attacked so-called liberation theology — a mix of religion with politics that is popular in Latin America. Catholicism has been losing influence in the region to Protestant evangelical churches.
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Taliban leader killed
In a serious blow to the Taliban, the group’s top military commander, Mullah Dadullah, was killed last week in fighting with U.S. and Afghan forces in southern Afghanistan. Dadullah is the third leader lost by the Taliban in the past six months. Meanwhile, the U.S. military faced growing pressure and challenges in training a weak Afghan police force.
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Ethnic divides widen in Bosnia
Nearly 12 years after the Dayton pact ended the 1992-95 Bosnian war, ethnic divisions are growing wider and threaten to crumble Bosnia-Herzegovina’s fragile framework. The patchwork nation of Serbs, Croats and Bosnian Muslims is encumbered by overlapping ethnic governments and rising nationalism — fostered in no small part by talk of independence in neighboring Kosovo.
