World briefs 12/20/04

Cuba wraps up air raid training for U.S. attack

HAVANA -- Cubans awoke to air raid sirens Sunday and practiced shooting, putting on gas masks and doing duck-and-cover drills as the communist nation wrapped up a week of preparation after Fidel Castro's government has warned against possible attacks from the United States. The activities, called the Strategic Bastion 2004 Exercise, were intended as an evaluation of how prepared Cuba is to face military attack during President Bush's second term. State-run newspapers reported Sunday that the exercises were a success and that Cuba's "capacity to resist and overcome an imperialist aggression" was demonstrated.

Fears rise as opposition traverses Ukraine

KIEV, Ukraine -- A convoy of supporters of Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko on Sunday moved deeper into the hostile eastern strongholds of his rival, who has ignored their requests for safe passage. The convoy -- dubbed the "friendship journey" -- of some 50 cars draped with Yushchenko's orange campaign colors headed to the industrial city of Zaporizhia, said Natalya Shypovalova, a convoy member and journalist. Carrying about 150 people, mostly artists and musicians, the convoy is traveling around this nation of 48 million people trying to sow support for Yushchenko ahead of the Dec. 26 presidential rerun. Much of the traveling has been in the country's Russian-speaking eastern and southern regions from where his Moscow-backed rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanuko-vych, draws his support.

Turkmenistan election goes door to door

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan -- Polling stations were nearly empty throughout Sunday's Parliament election in Turkmeni-stan, forcing officials to carry ballot boxes door to door. But the government announced a nearly 80 percent turnout in the former Soviet republic that is ruled by a one-time communist boss who now is president-for-life. The 131 candidates contesting Parliament's 50 seats all represent the Central Asian country's only party, the Democratic Party led by President Saparmurat Niyazov, and public organizations. All the candidates officially support Niyazov's policies and based their campaigns on promoting the ideas in his book, "Rukhnama," which sets moral and spiritual guidelines for the country's citizens.

Meteor may have passed over Indonesian capital

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Indonesians saw an object with a tail of fire hurtling toward earth near their capital early Sunday before hearing a loud explosion. An expert speculated it might have been a meteor. There were no reports of injuries. Indonesian air force radar detected an unidentified object falling toward the earth at a great speed before disappearing around the same time the noise was heard, a spokesman said. Muji Raharto, an astronomy professor with the Bandung Institute of Technology in West Java province, suggested the object was a large meteor that burned up as it fell through the earth's atmosphere, "causing a loud noise." There were no reports of any objects hitting the earth in or close to the capital.

World briefs 12/20/04

Cuba wraps up air raid training for U.S. attack; Fears rise as opposition traverses Ukraine; Turkmenistan election goes door to door; Meteor may have passed over Indonesian capital

Cuba wraps up air raid training for U.S. attack

Fears rise as opposition traverses Ukraine

Turkmenistan election goes door to door

Meteor may have passed over Indonesian capital