WORLD BRIEFS

WEST BANK: Mosque and Quran copies burned

Arsonists torched a mosque in a West Bank village Monday, scrawling "revenge" on a wall in Hebrew and charring copies of the Muslim holy book. Palestinians say they suspect hard-line Jewish settlers of setting the fire in the village of Beit Fajjar, near Hebron. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack in an apparent attempt to limit the political fallout. Suspicions fell on extremist Jewish settlers. In Jerusalem, meanwhile, Israel's Supreme Court upheld a deportation order against Mairead Corrigan Maguire, 66, an Irish Nobel Peace laureate who backs the Palestinian cause.

AFGHANISTAN: Bombings target police officers

Three explosions minutes apart rocked Kandahar on Monday night, killing up to four Afghan police officers. Three NATO service members also were killed by bombings in southern Afghanistan and an insurgent attack killed another in the east, raising the coalition's death toll to 11 in the first four days of October. Officials at Mirwais Hospital said four policemen died in the Kandahar explosions and 17 other people were injured. Also yesterday, NATO said an Afghan-coalition unit launched a night mission that killed Farman, a senior Taliban leader, and two other militants in eastern Paktia province.

PAKISTAN: Taliban say they attacked tankers

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility Monday for a predawn attack on tankers carrying fuel to Afghanistan for U.S. and other NATO forces, left vulnerable on the side of the road after Pakistan shut down a key border crossing. There have been four convoy attacks since Pakistan shuttered its main border crossing into Afghanistan to NATO convoys Thursday in apparent reaction to a series of alleged NATO incursions, including a helicopter attack that killed three Pakistani soldiers.

BRAZIL: Campaign for runoff begins

Presidential front-runner Dilma Rousseff and her rival, Jose Serra, courted the Green Party on Monday after a strong election showing Sunday made it a significant force ahead of a runoff vote. Rousseff, who hopes to become Brazil's first female leader, needs to attract a small proportion of the nearly 20 million people who voted for Green Party candidate Marina Silva to secure victory Oct. 31.