■ <B>HAVANA. </B>Castro bows out of yet another major Cuban eventConvalescing Cuban leader Fidel Castro has bowed out of Thursday?s Revolution Day festivities, with his stand-in and brother, Raul Castro, to speak in his place, the government said on Wednesday.

The news was hardly a surprise to most Cubans and foreign observers as Fidel Castro has repeatedly failed to appear in public since undergoing the first of a series of intestinal operations a year ago. ?We?ll be waiting for him. If Fidel can?t make it, who better than Raul to be here,? said Norma Iglesias, a teacher in the central town of Camaguey where this year?s festivities marking the launch of Castro has traditionally delivered a state of the union style speech on July 26 in the province deemed to have been the most socially and economically successful each year.

■ <B>CAMEROON. </B>Police overrun opposition town after poll . Cameroonian police seized control of the northwestern opposition stronghold of Santa on Wednesday amid peaceful protests by voters alleging the ruling party wanted to steal Sunday?s parliamentary polls. Veteran President Paul Biya?s Cameroon People?s Democratic Movement (CPDM) has already won 152 of the 180 National Assembly seats, with seven still to be announced, amid widespread allegations of vote-buying, intimidation and fraud. Opposition politicians in Santa said military police were harassing their supporters, some 2,000 of whom staged a sit-down protests outside local electoral offices to demand the publication of results from the legislative and municipal polls.