WORLD BRIEFS

VATICAN CITY: Abortion case causes uproar

The Vatican's top bioethics official dismissed calls for his resignation Monday following an uproar over his defense of doctors who aborted the twin fetuses of a 9-year-old child who was raped by her stepfather. Msgr. Renato Fisichella told The Associated Press he refused to respond to five members of the Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Life who questioned his suitability to lead the institution. He had written in the Vatican newspaper saying the Brazilian doctors didn't deserve excommunication because they were saving the girl's life. The call for mercy sparked criticism from some academy members who said it implied the Vatican was opening up to so-called "therapeutic abortion" to save the mother's life.

PAKISTAN: Suicide bomb kills eight in market

A suicide bomber targeting Pakistani security forces set off a blast that ripped through a busy market in the northwestern Swat Valley on Monday, killing at least eight people and wounding dozens of others. The attack in the district capital of Mingora occurred at a downtown intersection surrounded by small shops and stalls as at least two vehicles carrying security forces passed by.

NIGER: Diplomats encouraged by junta

A top leader of the new military junta defended last week's coup, saying the army overthrew the president to restore democracy after he refused to step down when his mandate expired. Col. Djibrilla Hima Hamidou spoke after talks with a delegation of senior diplomats from the UN, the African Union and a West African regional bloc. The diplomats said they were encouraged by junta assurances it would restore civilian rule through elections "as soon as possible."