ADDIS ABABA. Ethiopia?s ex-ruler Mengistu sentenced to life. An Ethiopian court sentenced former Marxist ruler Mengistu Haile Mariam to life in prison yesterday, but he is exiled safe from the punishment in Zimbabwe.

After a 12-year trial, Mengistu was found guilty in absentia of killing thousands of people during a 17-year reign which began with Emperor Haile Selassie?s ousting in 1974 and included war, brutal purges and famine. Zimbabwe says it will not extradite him

IRAQ. US forces raid Iran official office. US forces raided an Iranian government representative?s office in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil early yesterday and made a number of arrests, Iraq?s state television and a Kurdish station reported. There was no immediate comment on the reports of a US raid in Arbil from the American military.

INDONESIA. Wreckage of Indonesian airliner found at sea. Pieces of an Indonesian airliner which vanished with 102 people on board have been found in the ocean, officials said yesterday, after a painstaking 10-day search from jungles to stormy seas. Parts including a tail stabiliser and flight attendant seats were confirmed or reported found in the sea and on beaches near the town of Pare Pare on the west coast of Sulawesi island. A top search official later said that a woman?s body recovered in the vicinity was not that of a missing passenger. Exhausted relatives expressed relief that they finally had firm news on the plane, even if the news was not good, after a long wait and an erroneous report that the airliner had crashed in the jungle and some people had survived.