"The administration of President Evo Morales is promoting and strengthening democracy," said Contreras, noting the Bolivia-U.S. diplomatic ties should be without interference."

He said no nations can force Bolivia to take a direction which it does not want to.

"It would be truer to say that the United States is eroding democracy," said the spokesman, accusing Washington of supporting dictatorship and interfering in other countries' internal affairs.

Bush on Monday criticized Bolivia's nationalization of its natural gas industry, saying he was "concerned about of erosion of democracy" in Bolivia.

Karzai also wants to meet with the top American military commander in his country, the president's office said Tuesday.

The coalition attacks late Sunday and early Monday targeted the village of Azizi, located in Kandahar province.

No Canadian forces were involved in the attack, which reportedly killed as many as 80 Taliban militants.

The Associated Press said Karzai voiced "concern at the coalition forces' decision to bomb civilian areas" while condemning what he called the "terrorists' act of cowardice" in sheltering themselves in the houses of innocent villagers.

The battle was one of the largest in terms of combatant and civilian casualties since coalition forces arrived in Afghanistan in 2002.

Fighting called 'very intense'

On Monday, coalition spokesman Maj. Scott Lundy called the hostilities "one of the most significant single engagements that we've had in the recent past."

Taliban insurgents who survived an initial gun battle ran into nearby homes in Azizi, continuing to shoot at coalition forces from residential rooftops and window wells.

"Coalition forces were under pressure and taking a lot of fire," Lundy said. "It was very intense."

After the commander on the ground called for air strikes, U.S. military helicopters and A-10 Warthog airplanes delivered rockets and bombs.

In the first report released Tuesday, a United Nations body said the Sudanese government is not keeping its pledge to stop attacks on black African civilians, including killings and violent sexual assaults.

"In Darfur, the government and rebels should immediately respect the governing cease-fire agreement," said the report from the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, referring to a May 5 deal that was supposed to bring hostilities to an end.+

"The government should also disarm the militia and protect the physical security of all Darfurians by putting in place a credible, capable and professional police force and judiciary."

In some cases, the UN report said, the Sudanese government has added to the terror of Darfur refugees - even as it tried to help them - by using military attack craft to fly in emergency relief.

"Particularly alarming is that the government reverted to using helicopter gunships on various occasions," it said of the aid flights.

In the past three years, the region in western Sudan has become a drought-plagued killing ground, forcing more than 2.5 million people to leave their homes in a desperate search for safety.

Most of the refugees are being housed in camps elsewhere in Sudan and in neighbouring Chad.

Food is in short supply, the United Nations warned earlier this month as it called for developed nations to donate more to the relief effort.

Amnesty report blasts global priorities

A separate report released Tuesday by Amnesty International said Darfur and similar crises around the world are being ignored as nations such as the United States concentrate on the so-called war against terrorism.

China and Russia were also singled out in the group's 2006 report card as countries that put their own security ahead of human rights issues.

"Governments collectively and individually paralyzed international institutions and squandered public resources in pursuit of narrow security interests, sacrificed principles in the name of the 'war on terror' and turned a blind eye to massive human rights abuses," the secretary-general of Amnesty International, Irene Khan, said in a statement linked to the report.

The report called on the UN to intervene in Darfur to stop Arab janjaweed militiamen from committing atrocities that many say are condoned - if not outright sponsored - by the Sudanese government.

"Intermittent attention and feeble action by the United Nations and the African Union fell pathetically short of what was needed in Darfur," Khan said.

The Amnesty International report also addressed other issues around the world:

* It called on the U.S. to shut down its prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where many suspected militants and al-Qaeda sympathizers have been held for years without charges, and reveal where else around the world it is holding similar prisoners.
* Describing the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq as having resulted in "a vortex of sectarian violence," it called for a change in strategy to improve the safety and prospects of ordinary Iraqis.
* It challenged the UN to insist on respect for human rights in places ranging from Colombia to Uzbekistan to Chechnya.

The report said placing greater value on "human rights and human security" around the world would naturally lead to fewer acts of terrorism.

Neighbors eventually heard a commotion coming from the house and called the police.

"I've read and heard of things like that before," Brawley Fire Capt. Manuel Sevilla said, "but I've never seen it. The situation, it was more funny than anything." Fire workers lowered a chain ladder to Allen, who was able to climb out from the chimney.

When transported to Pioneers Memorial Hospital in Brawley for treatment Allen tried to flee but was detained by hospital staff.

Allen, who had a warrant for his arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol, faces a count of residential burglary.

The children - ages 2 to 4 - were airlifted to a hospital in Atlanta and were in critical condition, Turner said. The two women were taken to a Covington hospital; one was in critical condition and the other was stable, he said.

Barnes' mother, Mary, told The Associated Press her son has battled mental illness.

"He's been suffering with depression for years," she said, her voice shaking after being told by a reporter what happened. "Lord have mercy."

Ryan Boldman-Snyder, 20, an employee at the McDonald's restaurant, was on a break outside when he heard screaming, and said Barnes was "smiling the whole time."

"He came with the intent to hurt somebody," Boldman-Snyder said.

Witnesses tried to pull Barnes out of his car in the restaurant parking lot. Police officers finally pulled him out of the car from the passenger-side front door, Boldman-Snyder said.

McDonald's area franchise manager Bill Hall said the company was deeply saddened by the tragedy.

"Our prayers are with the victims, the children, and their families. We are cooperating fully with the authorities as they investigate," Hall said.

Hall said the restaurant, about 30 miles southeast of Atlanta, would remain closed for the rest of the day and counseling was being provided for employees.