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MANAGUA, Nicaragua — Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega tried to calm critics shaken by his return to power, holding back-to-back meetings Wednesday with Nicaragua’s president and business leaders worried about a chilling effect on investment and the influence of leftist allies.

Congratulations poured in from around the world after Ortega won Sunday’s election. Cuba and Venezuela welcomed the former Marxist into a growing club of Latin American leftists who see themselves as a counterweight to U.S. dominance in the region.

Ortega’s rivals said they would pressure him to maintain close U.S. ties, and State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said cooperation with Ortega and his Sandinista colleagues will be "based on their action in support of Nicaragua’s democratic future.”

The tug-of-war was likely to set the stage for a conflictive five years in office.

Ortega was scheduled to address his supporters during a massive victory rally late Wednesday in Managua, a speech that would set the tone for his handover.

Suicide attack at Pakistan army camp kills at least 42

DARGAI, Pakistan — In the deadliest suicide attack on the Pakistani military, a man with explosives strapped to his body ran up to soldiers doing calisthenics Wednesday and blew himself up, killing at least 42 troops and wounding 20.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion fell on pro-Taliban militants who had vowed revenge for an airstrike that killed at least 80 people on a Muslim school the government said was being used to train militants. The violence marked an escalation in the conflict between Pakistani security forces and Islamic militants along the rugged border, and sparked fears that the war in Afghanistan may be spilling into Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in the war on terror.

About 200 soldiers were exercising at an army training center in Dargai, a town 60 miles north of the capital of the North West Frontier Province, when the attacker struck.

"A man wrapped in a cloak came running into the training area and exploded himself where recruits had gathered for training,” a military statement said.

Information Minister Mohammed Ali Durrani said 42 soldiers died and 20 were wounded. The army said some of the wounded were in critical condition.

Dargai is considered a stronghold of the outlawed Islamic group Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammadi, whose fugitive leader, Faqir Mohammed, is a close associate of al-Qaida deputy chief Ayman al-Zawahri.