World Briefs

CONAKRY, Guinea – A military-led group sent tanks through Guinea's capital on Wednesday and said it would hold power for two years after initially promising presidential elections within 60 days.

The National Council for Democracy and Development announced Tuesday that it had seized control of the West African country after the death of its longtime dictator.

"The National Council for Democracy and Development has no ambition of staying in power," Capt. Moussa Camara, the group's spokesman, said on state radio. "We are here to promote the organization of credible and transparent presidential elections by the end of December 2010."

HARARE, Zimbabwe – A Zimbabwean human rights activist missing for three weeks was taken to court Wednesday, and state media said she was accused in a plot to overthrow President Robert Mugabe.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu joined the growing international pressure on the longtime leader to give up power. Asked during a British Broadcasting Corp. interview if Mugabe should be removed by force, Tutu said there should "certainly be the threat of it."

Tutu, the retired archbishop of Cape Town, also said he is ashamed of South Africa's handling of the Zimbabwe issue at the U.N. Security Council, where China and Russia in July vetoed a U.S.-sponsored resolution that proposed worldwide sanctions against Mugabe and 13 officials.

GUADALAJARA, Mexico – A reigning Mexican beauty queen from the drug-plagued state of Sinaloa was arrested with suspected gang members in a truck filled guns and ammunition, police say.

Miss Sinaloa 2008 Laura Zuniga stared at the ground, with her flowing dark hair concealing her face, as she stood squeezed between seven alleged gunmen lined up before journalists. Soldiers wearing ski masks guarded the 23-year-old model and the suspects.

Zuniga was arrested shortly before midnight on Monday. She was riding in one of two trucks, where soldiers found a large stash of weapons, 633 cartridges and $53,300 in U.S. currency.

MOGADISHU, Somalia – A Somali official named prime minister last week resigned Wednesday, saying his controversial appointment was preventing the feuding government from fighting a strengthening Islamic insurgency.

The infighting came to a head last week when the Somali president unilaterally dismissed Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein and appointed a new one, Mohamed Mohamud Guled. The country's parliament refused to approve the move, which was quickly condemned by the United States and neighboring countries.