U.S. man among decapitated victims
TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) " Mexican authorities say a U.S. man was among three decapitated victims found this week in the northern border city of Tijuana.
State prosecutors say the body of 38-year-old Jorge Norman Harrison was found by joggers Tuesday along with two other bodies near Tijuana's bullring.
Police say the three bodies also were missing their hands and one its feet.
Prosecutors said in a statement Friday that Norman Harrison had been convicted for drug trafficking in the United States. They said investigators searched a pizzeria he owned in Tijuana and found four handguns and more than 100 Valium pills.
2 killed outside Northern Ireland base
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) " Two men were shot dead and four more were injured Saturday night when gunmen opened fire outside a military barracks, police said.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack at Massereene Barracks northwest of Belfast but suspicion was likely to center on dissident republican groups opposed to the Irish Republican Army's cease-fire.
"There have been two fatalities. It is understood that those two fatalities are male," said a police spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with department policy.
The victims were not immediately identified. The spokesman said four other men were hospitalized in serious condition.
Witnesses reported hearing two long bursts of gunfire. Kylie McLaughlin, who lives near the scene, said he heard what sounded like machine gun fire.
"It was very scary, we were not sure what was happening. We just can't believe it has happened here," he told the BBC.
The attack came a day after Northern Ireland's chief constable confirmed that a small undercover army unit had been called in to beef up surveillance of dissidents.
Non-sectarian government for Iraq?
BAGHDAD (AP) " Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Saturday called for an end to the practice of distributing top government jobs along religious and ethnic lines, saying the system leads to weakness and mismanagement.
Al-Maliki, a Shiite, also renewed his call for changes in the 2005 constitution, which he believes restricts the power of the central government to deal with national problems after nearly six years of war.
"There is a difference between sectarian distribution of posts in the government and the principle of partnership," al-Maliki told a conference of Iraqi tribal leaders.
Also on Saturday, a U.S. soldier was killed during an attack on an American patrol in Salaheddin province in northern Iraq, the U.S. military announced. It was only the third combat fatality suffered by U.S. forces in Iraq this month.
U.S. casualties have dropped sharply in Iraq over the past year, with most of the fighting taking place in Sunni areas north of the capital.
N. Korea to elect parliament members
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) " North Koreans were to vote today to elect legislators to the country's rubber-stamp parliament " a poll outside observers are watching closely for hints leader Kim Jong Il may be grooming a successor.
Polls typically open at 9 a.m. but two hours later, there was no indication in state media that the vote was under way.
The poll is the first since Kim, 67, reportedly suffered a stroke last August.
Elections scheduled for last year were postponed and Kim disappeared from the public eye, sparking concerns that the authoritarian leader's sudden death could trigger chaos and instability in the impoverished and nuclear-armed nation.
But Kim appears to have recovered, South Korean officials say, and has been making a busy tour of factories, farming collectives and military units around the country. Still, this year's election is being watched closely for any sign he is preparing to name a successor or is building a collective of political and military advisers.
The polls also come as the isolated North faces off against the United States and other regional powers over its refusal to fully verify its past nuclear activities and an alleged plan to test-fire a long-range missile.
North Korea has also warned South Korea and the U.S. not to hold upcoming joint military drills that it claims are preparations for an attack on the North, and has threatened South Korean passenger jets flying near its airspace if the exercises go ahead as planned. Several airlines have rerouted their flights to steer clear of North Korean airspace.
Voters elect representatives to five-year terms in the Supreme People's Assembly, North Korean state TV reported.
The assembly meets several times a year to rubber-stamp bills, and election to the assembly is largely a formality since candidates are widely believed to be hand-picked by Kim and the ruling Workers' Party. Only one candidate runs in each constituency.
However, most assembly members concurrently hold key party, government and military posts, so Sunday's results could provide a peek into who will ascend to the North's ruling elite.
Reports also say Kim's 26-year-old son, Kim Jong Un, is expected to run for parliament in what analysts say would be a strong sign he is being groomed to inherit power from his father.
A parliamentary seat would be the son's political debut. Jong Un is the youngest of the three sons the leader is known to have fathered, and is believed to be his father's favorite.
Parliament has 687 deputies including Kim, who has ruled the impoverished North since his father, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, died in 1994.
Kim and other candidates have virtually no chance of losing. In the 2003 polls, all the 687 candidates were elected to the assembly with total support, with voter turnout at more than 99 percent, according to state media.
The North traditionally announces the list of names for new assembly members a day after the polls.
Experts predict Kim will fill parliament with finance-savvy figures and close associates to help revive the country's shattered economy and further consolidate his support base.
Kim's communist regime is facing growing international pressure to give up its plan to send up a communications missile " a launch regional powers suspect will be a cover for a long-range Taepodong-2 missile capable of reaching Alaska.
The North's ties with rival South Korea are also tense, with Pyongyang warning Thursday that it cannot guarantee security for South Korean civilian planes flying near its airspace if Seoul and Washington go ahead with annual military exercises slated to begin Monday.
President Barack Obama dispatched his new envoy on North Korea to Asia to meet with regional powers seeking to convince Pyongyang to return to disarmament talks.
Arriving in Seoul on Saturday, Stephen W. Bosworth told reporters Washington is "reaching out now" to the North. "We want dialogue."