Nation & World Briefly

India's ruling Congress pulls upset

NEW DELHI (AP) " The ruling Congress party swept to a resounding victory Saturday in India's mammoth national elections, defying expectations as it brushed aside the Hindu nationalist opposition and a legion of ambitious smaller parties.

The strong showing by the party, which is dominated by the powerful Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, laid to rest fears of an unstable, shaky coalition heading the South Asian giant at a time when many of it neighbors are plagued by instability, civil war and rising extremism.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared victory, telling reporters that voters had given the Congress party-led coalition a "massive mandate."

The results left the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, the country's other main party, vowing a period of introspection after they failed to capitalize on the economic uncertainty and increased turmoil in Pakistan, India's longtime rival.

U.S.-Afghan unit ambushed at school

ALIABAD, Afghanistan (AP) " The bearded Afghan army officer dropped off bundles of pens and notebooks at the school and asked one boy which he preferred: The Americans or the Taliban?

"I don't know," the boy replied. But after a short silence other children in the classroom answered for him: "The Taliban."

Within minutes the discussion was punctuated by an insurgent ambush and the joint U.S.-Afghan patrol became pinned down in this area with forested mountains, caves and ravines that American soldiers call "the Valley of Death."

No one in the patrol was killed in the firefight Saturday.

Reunited with mom, abducted 3-year-old boy headed home

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) " A 3-year-old boy abducted from his family home in San Bernardino nearly two weeks ago was being evaluated at a local hospital Saturday after returning from the Mexican border town of Mexicali, where he had been found wandering the streets, sheriff's officials said.

After the physical and emotional evaluations, Briant Rodriguez was expected to return home for the first time since two armed men snatched him from his house after bursting in and tying up his family, San Bernardino County Sheriff Rod Hoops said.

Briant and his mother, Maria Rosalina Millan, were reunited earlier Saturday in Calexico, Calif., a day after detectives and FBI agents received a call from officials in the neighboring Mexican city of Mexicali saying they found a boy that could be Briant, sheriff's Lt. Rick Ells said.

Bombing, strike in Pakistan kill dozens

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) " Bombs destroyed an Internet cafe, wrecked a bus carrying handicapped children and spread panic through Pakistan's main northwestern city on Saturday, killing at least 11 people in a day of carnage across the militancy-plagued region.

An apparent U.S. missile strike annihilated a Taliban raiding party mustering to cross into Afghanistan, officials said, while Pakistani troops claimed another 47 kills in their bid to retake the Swat Valley.

Violence is engulfing Pakistani territory along the Afghan border as American and allied forces crank up the pressure on al-Qaida and Taliban militants entrenched in the forbidding and barely governed mountains and valleys.

The first of two bombs to explode in Peshawar on Saturday was hidden in a car and devastated a street busy with traffic, shoppers and worshippers heading to mosques to pray.

Spacewalking astronauts install high-tech camera

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) " Spacewalking astronauts gave the Hubble Space Telescope a better view of the cosmos by installing a new high-tech instrument Saturday, then tackled their toughest job yet: fixing a broken camera.

It was the third spacewalk in as many days for the shuttle Atlantis crew, and it was expected to be the most challenging ever performed because of the unprecedented camera repairs. Astronauts had never before tried to take apart a science instrument at the 19-year-old observatory.

Hubble's chief mechanic, John Grunsfeld, deftly opened up the burned-out camera and plucked out all four electronic cards that needed to be replaced.

"Somehow I don't think brain surgeons go 'woo-hoo' when they pull something out," one of the astronauts observed from inside Atlantis.