Iran: British-Greek reporter freed

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran said Sunday it has released a British-Greek journalist detained for two weeks during its postelection crackdown as opposition forces pressing their claims of fraud called for parliament to dismiss President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The freelance reporter for The Washington Times was accused Sunday of "illegal activities" during the protests that followed the June 12 presidential election. He was believed to be the only journalist without Iranian citizenship among the hundreds of journalists, bloggers and activists detained.

Greece's Foreign Ministry confirmed his release and said he would leave Iran "within the day."

The government's crackdown has quelled days of deadly street unrest, but authorities are still grappling with how to handle the fallout from an election that has exposed divisions in both the streets and in the clerical leadership. The opposition has claimed widespread election fraud and claims that opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi is the true winner, not Ahmadinejad.

Zimbabwe troops to leave diamond fields

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwe has promised to withdraw its soldiers from diamond fields in the east, an official newspaper reported Sunday -- a week after a rights group alleged the military was committing killings and abuses in the area.

The move appeared to be an attempt to diffuse criticism over the military's takeover of the Marange diamond fields and ensure that Zimbabwe's precious stones won't be tainted with the "blood diamond" label by activists, which would reduce their value.

The Ministry of Mines denied last month's report by Human Rights Watch that said troops had killed more than 200 people at the Marange diamond fields while forcing children to search for diamonds and beating villagers who got in the way.

Instead, Zimbabwe's coalition government said the military was there to secure the area, about 150 miles east of Harare, where mining is managed by the state's Mining Development Corp.

UK spy chief's family details posted online

LONDON -- He's the spy who came in from the beach.

Holiday snapshots and family details about the newly appointed head of Britain's MI6 intelligence agency have been removed from a Facebook page after a newspaper told the government about them.

Pictures from the social networking Web site published in the Mail on Sunday newspaper show John Sawers posing with his children, wearing a Santa hat and playing Frisbee on a beach.

The paper said the information was posted by Sawers' wife on her Facebook page. It included vacation photos, details about the couple's three children and the location of their London home.

Shelley Sawers' page has been removed from the site, although a cached page can still be viewed that shows a picture of the spy chief's wife.

Some politicians called the details a security lapse -- but others said they revealed nothing but a few mildly embarrassing domestic details.

Drug war, economy weigh on Mexico midterm election

MEXICO CITY -- Drug violence, an economic downturn and recent cases of political malfeasance weighed heavily as Mexicans voted Sunday in midterm congressional elections that could decide the future of President Felipe Calderon's anti-crime and economic policies.

Calderon's National Action Party, PAN, hoped its nationwide crackdown on drug cartels would win it a bigger share of the 500-seat lower house of Congress, where it currently holds 206 spots.

But with the economy in its steepest downturn since the 1990s, polls suggested the gains would go to the former longtime ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, PRI, which now has 106 seats.

"The fundamental problem is the lack of opportunities, jobs, education," government worker Thelma Flores, 46, said as she waited to cast her ballot. "That's what generates the other things, the criminality and organized crime. It's because of a lack of opportunities."