NICARAGUA

The number of people killed when Hurricane Felix tore into the border area of Nicaragua and Honduras this week has jumped to at least 130, a Nicaraguan rescue official said.

The dead were mainly Nicaraguan Miskito Indians, including some fishermen whose bodies washed up in Honduras. Officials said about 70 people were believed missing.

A Nicaraguan newspaper said the death toll was 168.

CONGO Clashes disrupt food aid deliveries

New clashes erupted between a renegade general's forces and government troops in eastern Congo, and the United Nations said violence was hampering efforts to deliver food to tens of thousands of civilians displaced by ongoing fighting.

The latest clash pitting supporters of former Gen. Laurent Nkunda against army troops was in Rumangabo, a village north of the regional capital, Goma, said a spokesman for U.N. peacekeepers.

As many as 35,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly known as Zaire, have crossed the border into Uganda in the last five days, the U.N. refugee agency said.

AZERBAIJAN Breakaway region swears in president

The former security chief of Nagorno-Karabakh was sworn in as the new president of the Armenian-controlled breakaway region.

Bako Saakian, who took 85% of the vote in July, headed Nagorno-Karabakh's security service from 2001 until he resigned to run for president.

Saakian pledged to push for full independence of the mountainous territory inside Azerbaijan, which has run its own affairs without international recognition since driving out Azerbaijani forces in the early 1990s.

MOROCCO Vote expected to boost Islamists

Morocco began counting votes after a record low turnout in parliamentary elections that were expected to show gains for Islamists pressing an anti-corruption message. Political analysts say the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party has a chance of winning Cabinet posts if it emerges as the party with the most seats. The party emphasizes conservative values and ethics, a message popular in lower-income urban suburbs.

AND FINALLY. . . Robber no match for martial law

A karate academy was not the best target for a robbery, a Colombian man found when his attempt got the chop from practicing students. Police said he was recovering in a hospital in Santander province north of Bogota after a thumping by students who disarmed him.

From Times Wire Reports