World datelines

Afghanistan: Drugs

KABUL — U.S. Marines and Afghan forces have found and destroyed hundreds of tons of poppy seeds, opium and heroin in southern Afghanistan this month in raids that a top American official said show the new U.S. counter narcotics strategy in Afghanistan is working.

U.S. and NATO troops are attacking drug warehouses in Afghanistan for the first time this year, a new strategy to counter the country's booming opium poppy and heroin trade. NATO defense ministers approved the targeted drug raids late last year, saying the link between Taliban insurgents and drug barons was clear.

Egypt: Spy charges

CAIRO — Egypt's prosecutor general on Sunday officially charged 26 suspects, including two Lebanese and five Palestinians, with spying for the militant group Hezbollah, as well as plotting terrorist attacks and aiding militants in the Gaza strip.

Egyptian security officials had been tracking the case, now known in the press as "the Hezbollah Cell," since April when they said they uncovered Hezbollah plots to destabilize Egypt.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah at the time rejected the accusations of intending to harm Egypt's security, but did admit to sending an agent to supervise weapon shipments to Hamas in Gaza.

Guinea-Bissau: Election

BISSAU — Voters in tiny Guinea-Bissau, battered by decades of coups and countercoups, cast ballots Sunday for a new president, hoping to elect someone who can bring peace and stability to their impoverished West African nation.

Sunday's presidential runoff pitted veteran politicians Malam Bacai Sanha and Kumba Yala against each other in a race to succeed Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira, who was assassinated in March. The two topped the first round of voting in June, with Sanha taking 39 percent of the votes to Yala's 29 percent.

India: Sub launched

NEW DELHI — India on Sunday launched the first nuclear-powered submarine built on its soil, asserting itself as a world power by joining just five other countries that can design and construct such vessels.

The 367-foot -long submarine, named "Arihant" or "Destroyer of Enemies," was sent for sea trials at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

It will be capable of launching nuclear weapons, said Rahul Bedi, an analyst with Jane's Defence Weekly.