WORLD

In Brief

Bhutanese Vote

THIMPU, Bhutan (Reuters) — Immaculately turned out in traditional dress, the people of Bhutan formed long queues at polling stations on Monday to vote in the first parliamentary elections in the isolated Himalayan kingdom’s history.

Many said they were heartbroken to leave behind a century of absolute royal rule, but others are warming to the idea of democracy in the Land of the Thunder Dragon.

“I am happy, excited and worried all at the same time,” said 24-year-old office worker Chimi Lam, dressed in a green silk jacket and ankle-length skirt at a polling station at Batesa primary school overlooking the pine-clad Thimpu valley.

Ex-First Lady Weds

PARIS (Reuters) — The ex-wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy has wed a public relations executive in a chic ceremony that the French media poked fun at on Monday.

Cecilia Ciganer-Albeniz, 50, wed Richard Attias, 48, on Sunday, less than two months after Sarkozy wed singer and former model Carla Bruni in Paris.

“Three Marriages and a Year of Erring,” was the headline in France’s Liberation newspaper.

“Knowing perfectly well that this is information which interests no one, let’s remark that this weekend in New York, Cecilia Isabel Ciganer-Albeniz married Richard Attias,” the opening paragraph read on a two-page spread in the left-leaning paper.

Suicide Bombing Kills 13

BAGHDAD (AP) — A suicide car bomber killed at least 13 Iraqi soldiers and wounded dozens more on Sunday in Mosul, northern Iraq. Seven people also were killed in a suicide car bombing in the Shia area of Shula in the capital, Baghdad. Meanwhile, the U.S.-protected Green Zone in Baghdad came under fire from either mortars or rockets.

In all, at least 41 violent deaths were reported in the country. In the Mosul attack, the bomber smashed past an armoured vehicle and detonated his bomb in the courtyard of a military base, according to an Iraqi army officer. At least 42 people were wounded.

India Tests Missile

NEW DELHI (AP) — India successfully tested a short-range version of its most powerful nuclear-capable missile Sunday.

The Agni-I missile, which can travel up to 435 miles, was test-fired over the Bay of Bengal from Wheeler’s Island off India’s east coast, a defense ministry statement said. The Agni-1 can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads.

“The missile had a textbook performance,” the ministry said.

Passports Probe

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators from both parties are urging the Department of Justice to investigate the unauthorized searches of the passport files of three presidential candidates by State Department contract workers.

“That kind of a breach of privacy is just despicable,” said Senator Arlen Specter, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. “I think that ought to be a very intense investigation.”

Senator Ron Wyden agreed, saying the incidents seem to point to a broader problem.

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