The region's first election in over a decade sparked fighting that degraded into ethnic and religious violence in area where Nigeria's Christians and Muslims live uneasily side by side.

Russia: Missile upgrade set

MOSCOW — Russia's military is planning to upgrade its missiles to allow them to evade American weapons in space and penetrate any prospective missile shield, a Russian general said Monday.

In comments to the Interfax news agency, Russia's Strategic Missile Forces chief, Col.-Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, as saying that Russia's intercontinental ballistic missiles will be modernized to protect them from space-based components of the U.S. missile defense system.

The upgrade will make the missiles' warheads capable of flying "outside the range" of the space-based system, Solovtsov was quoted as saying.

Venezuela: Chavez wants vote

CARACAS — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez urged his supporters on Monday to move quickly on organizing a vote on abolishing term limits — a change that could clear the way for him to stay in office another decade.

The socialist president, who was first elected a decade ago, sought to abolish term limits last year, but Venezuelan voters rejected the measure in a package of proposed constitutional changes.

U.N.: Treat AIDS early

UNITED NATIONS — Early treatment for babies born with the virus that causes AIDS can significantly increase their chances of survival, according to a report Monday by four U.N. agencies.

Far too few pregnant women know their HIV status, and in 2007 less than 10 percent of infants born to HIV-positive mothers were tested for the virus before they were two months old, the report said.

"Without appropriate treatment, half of children with HIV will die from an HIV-related cause by their second birthday," Ann Veneman, executive director of the U.N. children's agency, UNICEF, said in a statement.