World IN BRIEF : GHANA : Military Ruler Leads in Presidential Vote

Military ruler Jerry Rawlings took a commanding lead in results from Ghana’s first presidential election in 13 years. The returns showed Rawlings with 58% of the vote, enough to avoid a runoff with his leading challenger, history professor Albert Adu Boahen. Election monitors from the Carter Center in Atlanta said there were no signs of fraud. However, authorities clamped a curfew on the central town of Kumasi after violence there spurred by opposition charges that there was massive rigging in Tuesday’s voting. There were no immediate reports of injuries. Rawlings, a fiery populist, has won praise in international financial circles for dragging Ghana back from the brink of economic ruin.