MIDDLE EAST

NETANYAHU WITHDRAWS RESIGNATION THREAT

JERUSALEM, Israel – Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday he has withdrawn his threat to resign over Israel’s plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank, adding that Yasser Arafat’s illness had affected his decision. Mr. Netanyahu’s announcement gave a boost to Prime Minister Sharon, who has lost his parliamentary majority because of hard-line opposition to his withdrawal plan.

Meanwhile, violence in the West Bank and Gaza flared despite the Palestinian Arab leadership’s urging terrorists to scale back their activities while Mr. Arafat is hospitalized in France. Israeli troops shot and killed two Palestinian Arabs who entered an unauthorized area in Gaza. Troops in the West Bank town of Nablus also clashed with stone- throwing youths, shooting to death a 22-year-old man and seriously wounding another, witnesses and hospital officials said.

– Associated Press

SOUTHEAST ASIA

TERRORISTS BEHEAD BUDDHIST IN THAILAND

BANGKOK, Thailand – Suspected Islamic terrorists beheaded a Buddhist laborer in Thailand’s tumultuous south, police said yesterday, the second such killing in retaliation for the deaths of 85 Muslims at the hands of security forces last month.

The attackers left notes with the body of 60-year-old man threatening further revenge attacks. Officials identified the victim only as Kaew. An analyst warned that the gruesome nature of the killing signaled that violence in the region had reached a new level of brutality.

At least 85 Muslim protesters died on October 25 when security forces cracked down on a violent demonstration outside a police station in Narathiwat’s Tak Bai district. Most of the victims suffocated or were crushed after they were arrested and crammed into army trucks.

– Associated Press

WESTERN EUROPE

U.S. DOUBTS IRAN’S GOOD FAITH ON NUCLEAR ACTIVITIES

VIENNA, Austria – America doubts Iran’s good faith in talks with three European powers trying to persuade Tehran to suspend activities that can help make nuclear arms, a senior American official said yesterday.

Following a round of talks with negotiators from France, Germany, and Britain over the weekend in Paris, diplomats have said they expect Iran to announce this week a full suspension of activities that can be used to make nuclear arms.

“We are very skeptical of Iran’s long-term intentions, and we do not expect Iran to comply over the long term with any commitment not to develop nuclear weapons,” Stephen Rademaker, an assistant American secretary of state for arms control, told reporters in Vienna. The agreement would require Iran to continue its voluntary freeze on enriching uranium and to stop related activities – but only until the two sides can reach a deal on European technological and trade support for Tehran, including helping it develop a peaceful nuclear program.

– Associated Press

CENTRAL ASIA

KIDNAPPED U.N. WORKERS CALL HOME

KABUL, Afghanistan – Two of three U.N. workers kidnapped in Afghanistan called home to reassure relatives they are all right, as negotiators tried yesterday to secure their release after 12 days in the hands of Taliban-linked terrorists.

Afghan officials cited progress toward freeing the trio, though it remained unclear whether prisoners – some perhaps from Guantanamo Bay – might be freed as part of any deal. Armed men abducted Shqipe Hebibi of Kosovo, British-Irish Annetta Flanigan, and Angelito Nayan of the Philippines in a bold raid in downtown Kabul. All three helped organize Afghanistan’s landmark October 9 election.

A terrorist group released a video of the three and threatened to kill them unless its demands were met, fanning fear that Afghan terrorists were copying their Iraqi counterparts who have executed a string of foreign hostages. Afghan and U.N. officials leading efforts to end the crisis have refused to confirm any negotiations with the group, called Jaish-al Muslimeen, or Army of Muslims.

Still, presidential spokesman Jawed Ludin told reporters yesterday “progress has been made” and there were other signs that a deal was possible.

– Associated Press

EASTERN EUROPE

PROTESTERS RANSACK BUILDING IN RUSSIA

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia – Hundreds of protesters ransacked and occupied the regional administration building in a southern Russian province yesterday, demanding the resignation of the region’s president, whose former son-in-law has been linked to a multiple slaying.

Hundreds of armed riot police were standing guard outside the office of regional President Mustafa Batdyev, a duty officer for the Karachayevo-Cherkessiya regional interior ministry said.

The protesters got into the building by battering down the doors with metal barriers. TV footage showed men and women inside breaking windows, pulling down curtains and window frames, and throwing papers and potted plants out the windows as uniformed police fled.

Thirty people were injured in the melee, including six law-enforcement officers who were hospitalized, one in serious condition, said the duty officer, who declined to give his name. One woman was seen wielding a police truncheon against an interior ministry soldier.

Nearly 1,000 people, most elderly women, were occupying the building late last night, the duty officer said.

– Associated Press

EAST ASIA

UNIDENTIFIED SUBMARINE SPOTTED IN JAPANESE WATERS

TOKYO – Japan’s navy forces went on alert early today after a foreign submarine was briefly spotted in its territorial waters, the government’s top spokesman said.

The sub’s country of origin and other details could not immediately be determined. A reconnaissance aircraft and destroyer were dispatched to investigate, the chief cabinet secretary, Hiroyuki Hosoda, said. The aircraft confirmed the submarine had entered Japanese territorial waters near the Sakishima islands in southern Okinawa prefecture but that it later left, he said.

Defense chief Yoshinori Ono issued an alert order to the navy, Mr. Hosoda said without elaborating. “It’s extremely regrettable,” Mr. Hosoda said. “We have to find out and examine the details, including its purpose and origin.”

Japan has been considering ways to boost its maritime defenses after a shootout with a suspected North Korean spy ship in December 2001. In that incident, Japanese Coast Guard patrol boats sank the suspected spy ship in a gun battle off southwestern Japan. The patrol vessels returned fire only after the ship, ordered to stop, opened fire with a rocket and guns.

– Associated Press