The world in brief

Drone zaps lethal

van of al-Shabab

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- A U.S. military drone strike on a vehicle carrying explosives in Somalia has removed "an imminent threat to the people of Mogadishu" by the al-Shabab extremist group, the U.S. Africa Command said Tuesday.

The airstrike was carried out early Tuesday morning about 40 miles southwest of Somalia's capital, the U.S. statement said, adding that no civilians were killed. It was not immediately clear whether al-Shabab fighters were killed.

A senior Somali intelligence official said the airstrike largely destroyed a minibus traveling near the rebel-held village of Mubarak in Lower Shabelle region. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab was blamed for the truck bombing in Mogadishu in October that killed 512 people, wounded more than 300 others and left more than 60 missing.

Assad's foes say

snub miring talks

GENEVA -- The Syrian opposition said Tuesday that the government delegation to the Geneva peace talks refuses to negotiate with them directly and insists on only discussing terrorism.

Opposition spokesman Yahya Aridi said the Damascus delegation told U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura that it won't negotiate directly with the opposition, making it difficult to move forward in the eighth round of indirect negotiations aimed at ending the nearly seven-year civil war.

There was no immediate response from the government team in Switzerland, which met again with de Mistura on Tuesday and did not speak to reporters after the meeting.

Syrian opposition and government delegates are back in Geneva after a short break in the eighth round of talks that de Mistura has hosted since early 2016. The government delegation has protested the opposition's insistence that President Bashar Assad play no role in any future transition period.

The opposition has been calling for the "indirect" peace talks -- with de Mistura's team shuttling between the delegations -- to become direct.

Defector to North,

ex-GI dies in Japan

TOKYO -- Charles Jenkins, a U.S. Army deserter to North Korea who married a Japanese abductee and lived in Japan after their release, has died. He was 77.

Jenkins was found collapsed outside his home in Sado in northern Japan on Monday and was taken to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead, a group representing families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea said Tuesday.

Public broadcaster NHK said he died of heart failure.

Jenkins, of Rich Square, N.C., disappeared in January 1965 while on patrol along the Demilitarized Zone dividing North and South Korea. He later called his desertion a mistake that led to decades of deprivation and hardship in the communist country.

In North Korea, Jenkins met his wife Hitomi Soga, who had been kidnapped from Japan in 1978, and the couple had two daughters, Mika and Blinda. His wife was allowed to visit Japan in 2002 and stayed. Jenkins and their daughters followed in 2004.

Once in Japan, Jenkins was subject to a U.S. court-martial in 2004 in which he said he deserted because of fear of being sent to fight in Vietnam. He pleaded guilty to desertion and aiding the enemy and was dishonorably discharged and sentenced to 25 days in a U.S. military jail in Japan.

Jenkins and his family lived in Soga's hometown of Sado, where he worked at a local souvenir shop and could often be seen posing for photos with tourists.

A Section on 12/13/2017

Upcoming Events