World Briefs

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Soldiers seized the national palace and sent President Manuel Zelaya into exile in Costa Rica on Sunday, hours before a disputed constitutional referendum. Zelaya, told Venezuela-based Telesur television station that he was "kidnapped" by soldiers. The Supreme Court said it was supporting the military in what it called a defense of democracy.

Congressional President Roberto Micheletti has been named President but the international community backs Manuel Zelaya.

Zelaya, arriving at the airport in the Costa Rican capital, San Jose, called the military action illegal.

About 100 Zelaya supporters, many wearing "Yes" T-shirts for the referendum, blocked the main street outside the gates to the palace, throwing rocks and insults at soldiers and shouting "Traitors”

TIRANA, Albania – Albanians were voting yesterday in parliamentary elections seen as a crucial test of democracy to prove the Balkan country is ready for EU membership. At 4:00 p.m. more than 40 percent of the country's 3.1 million eligible voters had cast ballots. Albania is under international pressure to make sure the vote is fair and free of the reports of fraud that have marred previous elections. Albania joined NATO on April 1 and wants to join the 27-nation EU.

Bissau - Guinea-Bissau voted yesterday to elect a new president after a series of assassinations, in the small African nation wracked by drugs trafficking. Eleven candidates, including three former presidents, ran to replace assainated president Vieira in an election that takes place in a tense atmosphere after a series of political killings.

NEW DELHI – Hundreds of gay rights supporters waved flags and danced past traffic during marches through three Indian cities Sunday to celebrate gay pride and call for the decriminalization of homosexuality in this deeply conservative country.

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A heavy sandstorm has blanketed Iraq's capital, closing the Baghdad airport and delaying the country's first oil bidding process in 30 years.

Visibility is only a few yards and most of the few people on the streets are wearing surgical masks.

Doctors at the city's hospitals said Sunday that people were coming in complaining about shortness of breath and other problems.

Iraq had planned to award eight oil and gas fields to international oil companies for long-term development on Monday and Tuesday. Sandstorms are a regular occurrence in Baghdad.