Supporters of Democratic Party of Pro-European reformist, Boris Tadic, celebrate his victory in Belgrade, Feb. 3.

BELGRADE, Serbia, Feb. 4--Pro-western Boris Tadic headed for a second term as Serbia’s president on Sunday, initial results showed, sparking wild celebrations in Belgrade despite fears over Kosovo’s looming independence.
Tadic, who campaigned on European Union-backed prosperity, had 51.1 percent of the vote against 47.2 percent for Tomislav Nikolic, an ultra-nationalist who favors greater links to Russia, said the electoral commission after the run-off vote, AFP said.
Nikolic, defeated by Tadic in 2004, acknowledged he had probably lost again and jubilant Tadic supporters poured into the streets of the capital, sounding car horns and waving blue and yellow Democratic Party flags as they converged on the downtown area.
The EU’s Slovenian presidency congratulated Tadic on his victory in the polls, saying it reflected the democratic resolve to join the bloc.
Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, whose country currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, “emphasized that the outcome of the Serbian presidential elections should also be understood as the reflection of the wishes and resolve of democratic forces to further Serbia on its path towards membership of the European Union.“
Jansa also expressed “his firm belief that Serbia would very soon succeed in meeting the criteria required in order to proceed along this path,“ the EU presidency statement added.
In Belgrade, fireworks erupted before Tadic appeared at a window overlooking the main Terazije avenue to a cacophony of noise from hundreds of cheering supporters.
“This is Serbia’s victory. I think we have proven both to Europe and everywhere else in the world what kind of democracy we have in Serbia,“ Tadic told them.
“We give support today to our fellow people in Kosovo and show them that we will never let them down,“ he said.

N’DJAMENA, Chad, Feb. 4--Thousands of civilians fled the Chadian capital N’Djamena early on Monday after rebel forces said they had pulled back from the city following two days of fighting, while the government said it had driven them out.
A Reuters reporter inside N’Djamena said there were no sounds of fighting this morning and some people were venturing out of their homes.
Another Reuters correspondent who was across the Logone-Chari river from the city reported a flood of refugees streaming over the river bridge into Cameroon.
Military vehicles belonging to government forces were moving around the city. Bodies of dead civilians were visible in some streets, killed in two days of heavy fighting over the weekend that followed a rebel thrust into the city.
Rebel spokesman Abderamane Koullamalah said rebel forces had made a tactical withdrawal from the capital to meet up with reinforcements coming from the east with fresh ammunition and supplies.
“We’re pulling out so we can come back again,“ he said, quoted by the Chadian opposition Website Alwihda.
But President Idriss Deby’s government said it had driven the rebels out of the capital.
“The whole of N’Djamena is under control and these mercenaries in the pay of Sudan have been scattered,“ Interior Minister Ahmat Mahamat Bachir told French radio RFI late on Sunday.
Taking advantage of the pause in the fighting, thousands of Chadians carrying children and belongings left N’Djamena to cross the Ngueli bridge into northern Cameroon.

Pakistani army soldiers on alert after a suicide attack in Rawalpindi, Feb. 4.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Feb. 4--A suicide bomber on a motorbike rammed into a minibus carrying security personnel, detonating a blast Monday that killed at least six people in the Pakistani garrison city of Rawalpindi, police said.
The bus was destroyed and several other people were wounded in the explosion on a road running through a bazaar near the offices of the army’s engineering department, AP quoted police official Abdul Waheed as saying.
It was not immediately clear which branch of the armed forces the passengers were from. Police said the army had cordoned off the area.
In recent months there have been a series of suicide bombings in Rawalpindi, a city where the army has its headquarters, about 12 kilometers (seven miles) from the capital, Islamabad. President Pervez Musharraf also stays in the city.
On Dec. 27, opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and about 20 others died in a gun and bomb attack in Rawalpindi.
Prior to that, a series of attacks hit security forces and employees of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency, including two suicide bombings against a bus of ISI employees and an army checkpoint on Nov. 24 that killed up to 35 people.
There have been no claims of responsibility for the attacks, but authorities have blamed Taliban militants based near the Afghan border who pose a growing security threat across Pakistan.

BOGOTA, Colombia, Feb. 4--In its latest gesture to push for a high-profile prisoner swap, Colombia’s main leftist rebel army says it will free three ailing politicians it has held for more than six years.
In a communique, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, said the planned liberation springs from efforts by President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and “other friendly governments“ to seek a solution to the country’s long-running conflict, reported AP.
The FARC set no date for the promised liberation of Gloria Polanco, Luis Eladio Perez and Orlando Beltran--all Colombians-- kidnapped in 2001.
But it said it wants to free the hostages on Colombian territory to Chavez or someone chosen by him.
Venezuela’s government welcomed the FARC’s announcement on Sunday, saying it shows the rebels “continue to be motivated to achieve a humanitarian accord“ to swap rebel-held hostages for imprisoned guerrillas.
In a statement, Venezuela said that would be “a firm and definitive step toward peace,“ and expressed willingness to help.
The FARC communique, dated Jan. 31, was received late Saturday by news organizations including the leftist ANNCOL news agency, which regularly publishes FARC statements online.
Interior Minister Carlos Holguin told reporters Sunday that his government welcomed the FARC’s unilateral gesture.
“We’re disposed to do anything necessary so these countrymen regain their liberty.“
The FARC wants to exchange more than 40 hostages held for as long as a decade for hundreds of imprisoned rebels. But President Alvaro Uribe has rejected its demand that rebel representatives be allowed to carry arms in a proposed
demilitarized zone to hold hostage talks.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Feb. 4--Sri Lanka’s president insisted Monday his government was winning the war against Tamil Tiger rebels as the island marked its 60th anniversary of independence after a bloody weekend of violence.
Kicking off a display of military hardware along Colombo’s sea front promenade ringed by stiff security, President Mahinda Rajapakse also brushed off threats of foreign aid cuts due to the worsening ethnic conflict and human rights situation, reported AFP.
Monday’s celebrations went ahead despite threats from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and following two weekend bomb attacks that killed 34 civilians and wounded nearly 200.
The president said the “challenge bestowed upon us by history is the defeat of terrorism,“ and asserted government forces had cornered the rebels in the northern part of the island.
“We faced this challenge squarely without avoiding it. Our security forces are today achieving victories against terrorism unprecedented in history,“ he said in an address to the nation from Colombo’s Galle Face road.
“Terrorism is receiving an unprecedented defeat,“ said Rajapakse, whose government pulled out of a tattered Norwegian-brokered truce with the rebels last month.
According to the defense ministry, the rebels--who are fighting for an independent ethnic homeland in the Sinhalese-majority island--have lost at least 908 fighters since the beginning of the year, compared to just 36 government soldiers killed.
At least 139 civilians have also died during the same period, according to both sides.
The Freedom Day celebrations were marked by a heavy security operation, with thousands of additional police and troops called out and mobile phone text messaging cut.

KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb. 4--Afghanistan has done little to stop the corruption propping up its drugs trade and its war-shattered institutions are too weak to handle the problem, the UN representative on drugs here said on Monday.
It will take decades to end the industry in the country, which produces more than 90 percent of the world’s illegal opium, UN Office on Drugs and Crime representative Christina Oguz told AFP in an interview.
Drugs production, which last year reached new highs and feeds into deteriorating security, will be a main focus of ministers, donors and aid agencies meeting in Tokyo this week to assess progress in Afghanistan.
A paper prepared for the talks Tuesday and Wednesday said the “expansion of the narcotics industry represents the single greatest threat to Afghanistan’s stability, and is increasingly linked to insecurity and terrorist activities.“
“The drugs trade funds terrorism, fuels corruption and undermines the very rule of law that should bring security to our people,“ said the document on the website of the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board (JCMB), a committee working to implement the country’s five-year reconstruction plan.
Traffickers provide weapons, funding and personnel to anti-government rebels, while corrupt officials offer protection of drug trade routes, poppy fields and people, it said.
Oguz said her message at the Tokyo talks will be: “We need to see action now. Talking is not enough.“
But the fact that President Hamid Karzai has not appointed a counternarcotics minister to replace the one who resigned in July speaks for itself, she said.