Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era

WORLD

U.S. increases pressure on Iran Solomons tsunami kills 6 Tunisia killing leads to shakeup Girl, 9, has baby in Mexico

WASHINGTON -- The United States is tightening sanctions on Iran to pressure the Tehran government to limit its nuclear program and placing similar restrictions on institutions that Washington says are stifling political dissent and censoring speech.

Among the expanded measures announced Monday by the Treasury Department is a move to deny Iran access to revenue garnered from its oil exports.

Under the oil sanctions, Iran would only be able to use revenue from its oil sales in a country that purchased its crude, significantly limiting its access to the money.

SYDNEY -- Six bodies, including a child's, have been found in the sodden wreckage left by a tsunami that smashed into villages in the Solomon Islands, flattening dozens of homes in the South Pacific island chain.

The nearly 5 foot waves that roared inland on Santa Cruz Island, in the eastern Solomons, on Wednesday were too fast to outrun for five elderly villagers and one child, George Herming, a spokesman for the prime minister, said Thursday. Several other people were still missing, Herming said.

The tsunami was generated by a powerful 8.0-magnitude earthquake that struck near the town of Lata, on Santa Cruz in Temotu, the easternmost province in the Solomons. Temotu has a population of 30,000.

TUNIS, Tunisia -- Shaken by the assassination of a prominent leftist opposition leader that unleashed major protests, Tunisia's prime minister announced Wednesday that he would form a new government of technocrats to guide the country to elections "as soon as possible."

The decision by Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali was a concession to the opposition, which has demanded a reshuffle of the Islamist-dominated government. It also came hours after the first assassination of a political leader in post-revolutionary Tunisia.

The killing of 48-year-old Chokri Belaid, a secularist and fierce critic of the ruling Islamist party, marked an escalation in the country's political violence and sparked allegations of government negligence -- even outright complicity. It also bolstered fears that Tunisia's transition to democracy will be far more chaotic than originally hoped.

"This is a sad day that shook the country regardless of our differences," Jebali said in an address to the nation.

MEXICO CITY -- Mexican authorities say a 9-year-old girl has given birth in western Mexico and they are looking for the purported father, a 17-year-old.

Jalisco state police spokesman Lino Gonzalez says the baby girl was born last week at a hospital in the city of Guadalajara. He says the girl and her baby are doing well.

Gonzalez said Wednesday that the girl's family alerted authorities after she gave birth and the alleged father has not been seen since in the neighborhood they both live in. He says that if the teenager's paternity is proven he could face child sex abuse charges.