In the World

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - Authorities yesterday lifted a curfew imposed since the ousting of President Manuel Zelaya two weeks ago, a sign that Honduras' interim government is trying to restore normality to life in the crisis-gripped country.

In a nationally broadcast announcement, the interim government said the curfew had reached its objective to "restore calm" and curb crime.

The administration of Roberto Micheletti imposed the curfew after soldiers escorted Zelaya out of the country at gunpoint June 28, plunging Honduras into turmoil.

Representatives of Zelaya and Micheletti met Friday with mediator Oscar Arias, the Costa Rican president, and agreed to future talks, but no date was set. - AP

MUMBAI, India - Two boats capsized in western India yesterday when the passengers panicked after seeing a bolt of lightning, police said. Twenty-six women drowned.

Rescuers saved four passengers and two crew from the Wainganga River after the accident Saturday night, said Police Superintendent Suresh Sagar. Eight other women are missing.

After seeing a massive bolt of lightning, the women - poor farm laborers on their way home from work - panicked and the ensuing chaos upset the boats. - AP

Japanese broadcaster NHK reports that Prime Minister Taro Aso has decided to dissolve parliament next week and call general elections on Aug. 30.

The report came early today, after results for a crucial Tokyo vote this weekend showed Aso's Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the New Komeito Party, lost their majority in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly. The vote for the local parliament is widely viewed as a barometer for the upcoming national election.

The main opposition, the Democratic Party of Japan, made major gains in the Tokyo election.

In the run-up to the Tokyo poll, Aso's party had already lost four straight regional elections since April to the opposition party. - AP

Bulls gored four runners yesterday, seriously injuring two of them, during a packed running of the bulls on the sixth day of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, Spain. The sixth running at the annual festival was held two days after a man, 27, was gored to death, the first such fatality since 1995.

Yemenia Airways has organized a flight to Comoros for relatives of victims who died when an Airbus 310 crashed in the Indian Ocean last month. At least 150 family members are expected to fly to Comoros today. Only one person out of 153 aboard survived the crash.

Weekend ambushes by separatist rebels killed two employees at the Indonesian mining complex of U.S. conglomerate Freeport, marking a rise in violence in the Papua region.