World Briefs: Ivory Coast leader foresees intervention

PARIS — Ivory Coast’s president said military intervention in Mali is “inevitable” within weeks, if there’s no quick change in the West African country where Islamist extremists rule the north.

Alassane Ouattara said in an interview published Sunday in the French weekly Le Journal du Dimanche the intervention force would likely include soldiers from Niger, Nigeria and perhaps countries such as Chad • with logistical help from France and the United States.

He defined logistical help as material support and counselors but added that combat aircraft are needed.

Mr. Ouattara heads the West African regional bloc ECOWAS, which secured Mali’s consent for an intervention at a meeting last week in Ivory Coast.

The proposal for a 3,000-member force still needs approval from the U.N. Security Council, which France leads starting Wednesday.

NORTH KOREA

Typhoon-fueled floods killed 88 this month

SEOUL —North Korea says that heavy rain caused by a typhoon has killed nearly 90 people, destroyed thousands of homes and submerged a large amount of farmland.

Seoul-based analyst Kwon Tae-jin said the flooding is expected to worsen North Korea’s chronic food shortage because it comes soon after a severe drought.

The official Korean Central News Agency said Saturday that rain over the past month killed 88 people and left more than 60,000 homeless.

It said about 11,860 acres of cropland were washed away and 63,500 acres submerged.

The U.N. said last month that two-thirds of North Korea’s 24 million people face chronic food shortages.

IRAN

Iranian officials urge baby boom

TEHRAN — Iran’s new message to parents: Get busy and have babies.

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