WORLD BRIEFS

KYRGYZSTAN: UN sees intent in chaos

The UN has found evidence of bloody intent behind the chaos that has killed hundreds, left the nation's second-biggest city a smoldering ruin and sent more than 100,000 ethnic Uzbeks fleeing. The declaration by the UN that the fighting was "orchestrated, targeted and well-planned" bolsters government claims that hired attackers marauded through Osh, shooting at both Kyrgyz and Uzbeks to inflame old tensions. Over 100,000 Uzbeks have fled for their lives to neighboring Uzbekistan, and tens of thousands more, most of them women and children, were camped on the Kyrgyz side or stranded in a no man's land.

UNITED NATIONS: A warning on ship sinking

North Korea warned Tuesday that its military forces will respond if the Security Council questions or condemns the country over the sinking of a South Korean navy ship, which it vehemently denies. At a rare news conference, Ambassador Sin Son Ho demanded that an investigation team from North Korea be permitted to go to the site of the sinking to verify the result of a South Korean probe, which the South has refused to allow.

MEXICO: Drug war: Soldiers kill 15

Soldiers battled gunmen for nearly an hour Tuesday on the outskirts of the tourist town of Taxco, killing 15 suspects as June was becoming the deadliest month yet in Mexico's drug war. Troops investigating suspicious activity came under fire from gunmen holed up in a house, the Defense Department said. The battle in Guerrero state came one day after 12 federal police officers were killed in an ambush in neighboring Michoacan state.

KAZAKHSTAN: 3 blast off to space station

Two U.S. astronauts and a Russian crewmate blasted off Wednesday from Baikonur on a mission to the International Space Station. Astronauts Douglas Wheelock and Shannon Walker and Russia's Fyodor Yurchikhin lifted off in a Soyuz rocket, set to reach the station Friday.