WORLD BRIEFS

TUNISIA: New rulers consult Walesa

Lech Walesa arrived Wednesday to advise the country's new leaders on building a democracy after they ousted dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Based on Walesa's experience, the transition may be a long one. Walesa led a strike at the Gdansk shipyard in 1980 that sparked a wave of protests, forcing Poland's communist rulers to negotiate with workers and fueling a period of relative freedom. A year later, General Wojciech Jaruzelski imposed martial law, threw Solidarity leaders into jail and outlawed the movement. It wasn't until 1989 that communism finally collapsed. "A revolution may only take one day, but that doesn't mean all the problems have been solved," Walesa, 67, said in an interview. "A positive conclusion to these events is possible, anything's possible. But it's not even close to inevitable."

CANADA: Leftists gain for May 2 vote

The New Democratic Party has become the second-most popular political party ahead of the federal election Monday, three polls show. The NDP has 30 percent support among decided voters, according to an Angus Reid Public Opinion poll conducted for the newspapers The Toronto Star and La Presse. Stephen Harper's governing Conservatives have 35 percent support, while the Liberals, who had the second-most seats in the House of Commons, have 22 percent. In 2008, the Conservatives won 143 seats with 38 percent of the vote, while the NDP won 37 seats. The Liberals took 77 seats.

THAILAND AND CAMBODIA: Border firing resumes

Artillery fire boomed across the Thai-Cambodian border for a seventh day before dawn Thursday. In Cambodia, field commander Col. Suos Sothea said the fighting is centering again around the ruins of two crumbling stone temples from the Khmer empire at Ta Moan and Ta Krabey, which have been caught in crossfire since last Friday. The fighting over contested territory has killed 14 people and forced tens of thousands on both sides to flee their homes.