A Texas appeals court Thursday agreed to hear arguments that hundreds of children the state took from a polygamist compound should be allowed to see their mothers while the massive custody case is resolved. The Yearning For Zion Ranch was raided three weeks ago, but many of the mothers had not been separated from their children until Thursday. Two buses took the women back to the west Texas ranch from nearby San Angelo Coliseum, where the state had been keeping them and the children. One woman held up a cardboard sign that read, “SOS; Mothers Separated; Help.”
British Parliament said Thursday it will keep troop withdrawals from Iraq frozen for months because of an upsurge in fighting with Shiite militias. Iraqi officials said fresh clashes between militiamen and Iraqi and U.S.-led forces had killed at least 13 people. British Defense Secretary Des Browne informed Parliament of the continued freeze as Foreign Secretary David Miliband held closed-door meetings with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad. Britain has about 4,500 troops in Iraq, most based at an airport camp near the southern city of Basra.
U.S. intelligence officials will show House and Senate members a videotape and other evidence supporting their case that Syria was building a nuclear reactor with North Korean assistance before it was bombed by Israeli planes last year, a U.S. official says.\nIntelligence officials who have seen the evidence consider it “extremely compelling,” the official said, adding that it was gleaned from a variety of sources, not just Israeli intelligence.
The top U.S. envoy on Africa says the Zimbabwean opposition leader won presidential elections. Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer was speaking in South Africa on Thursday at the start of a visit to bolster international pressure on Zimbabwe’s government to release election results from March 29 voting. Frazer says opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was the “clear” victor. The opposition claims it won and accuses Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe of withholding results while he plots how to keep power. Mugabe has led Zimbabwe since independence in 1980.
Nepal’s former communist rebels were declared the biggest party in a new governing assembly Thursday. While the Maoists won’t have a majority, they are expected to usher in sweeping changes for the poor Himalayan nation. First up: getting rid of the royal dynasty that has ruled Nepal for 239 years. In its first meeting, the Constituent Assembly will end the monarchy and establish a republic, Maoist leader Prachanda told reporters Thursday. Although there is still support for the monarchy, few Nepalis will mourn the exit of King Gyanendra, who seized absolute power in 2005 only to be forced into restoring democracy a year later by widespread protests.
