World
President Bush's Middle East tour moved on to Bahrain and Abu Dhabi Sunday, where he sought to rally friends of the US to confront the danger to global security posed by Iran. He also praised the passage by Iraq's parliament of a bill aimed at returning low-level members of the late Saddam Hussein's Baath Party to government jobs. Bush next is scheduled to visit Dubai and Saudi Arabia to try to win support for Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. Above, he and Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed al-Nahyan. Abu Dhabi's crown prince, admire a falcon.
Iran's government pledged Sunday to the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency that it would help wrap up the investigation into its nuclear activities within four weeks. To the annoyance of Western governments, the probe wasn't completed on schedule last month. But IAEA sources said they don't expect further objections if the extension produces details of programs with possible weapons applications that Iran has sought to keep secret.
About 35,000 people thronged the streets of Georgia's capital Sunday in a new protest against the reelection of President Mikhail Saakashvili.Observers said it fell well short of the 100,000 participants predicted by its organizers, but the latter vowed to stage another Tuesday to demand more broadcast time for their cause. They claim the Jan. 5 vote was rigged and want a runoff between Saakashvili and opposition leader Levan Gachechiladze (seen on a poster held by one of the protesters).
Arab League chief Amr Moussa left Lebanon after a once-promising strategy for facilitating the nation's presidential election failed to yield results, and the vote was postponed for the 12th time. Moussa refused to say whether he was optimistic or pessimistic about the situation, indicating that he hoped to return for further talks with anti- and pro-Syrian politicians. A parliamentary spokesman said the election has been rescheduled for next Monday.
Charges of fraud, corruption, and money-laundering were to be lodged against South Africa's police commissioner, and he resigned Sunday as president of Interpol to defend himself. Jackie Selebi, an ally of President Thabo Mbeki, was put on extended leave, a move that critics say probably will sharpen the dispute between Mbeki and his rival, new African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma.
Police set up a guard around the Suharto burial complex in Indonesia, and the government issued special credentials to the media to cover the funeral of the ex-dictator as his physicians warned he was in "very critical condition." Members of Suharto's family said Sunday they'd turn over to the doctors all decisions about prolonging his life by artificial means.
April 10 was designated by the government of Nepal Sunday as the new date for the election to decide the nation's political future. Voters will choose a 601-member assembly to rewrite the Constitution, converting the kingdom to a republic. The vote was postponed twice last year because the three main political parties couldn't agree on a timetable for phasing out the monarchy.
Rescue efforts were abandoned in central Kazakhstan Sunday after a coal mine explosion that killed at least 30 men and hospitalized 14 others, many of them in critical condition. Twenty-three miners remain trapped deep underground, but a fire fed by buildups of gas makes further work by emergency crews too dangerous, the government said.
Police in Japan announced receipt of the 400th envelope full of cash "for the underprivileged people" since the anonymous donations began arriving monthly in August 1974. The latest brings the total to date to 1.7 million yen ($16,000). The money is turned over to the social welfare council in Togichi Prefecture, north of Tokyo.
