PERSIAN GULF

INC SPY CHIEF BACK IN BAGHDAD

The Iraqi National Congress spy chief, Aras Kari, is back in Baghdad after being cleared last month of charges that he stole government property and authorized the intimidation of members of the finance ministry. Mr. Karim fled to Tehran last May, outside the purview of Iraqi authorities with a warrant for his arrest. Prior to the Iraq war, Mr. Karim played a key role in the INC’s information collection program. The program had mixed results. It found some defectors who later turned out to be liars, but it also helped the military find senior Baathists in the first months following the war. INC leader Ahmad Chalabi yesterday said Mr. Karim would not be working on intelligence matters. “He is the senior person in the INC on administration,” Mr. Chalabi said.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

IRAQI LAWMAKERS END DEADLOCK, CHOOSE PARLIAMENT SPEAKER

Lawmakers broke days of rancorous stalemate yesterday and reached out to Iraq’s Sunni Muslim minority for their Parliament speaker, cutting through ethnic and sectarian barriers that have held up selection of a new government for more than two months since the country’s first free elections in 50 years. Deputies still face, however, difficult choices for Cabinet posts and failed again to name a new president – broadly expected to be Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani. That choice and those of two vice presidents were put off until a Wednesday session that could mark a major milestone as Iraq tries to build a democratic government and civil society. Once the president and his deputies are selected, they have 14 days to choose a prime minister, the most powerful position in Iraq’s envisioned government hierarchy. That job was widely believed reserved for Ibrahim al-Jaafari, of the Shiite Muslim majority. Pressure is building on parliamentarians, with some growing frustrated with the slow pace of forming a government, because they have an August 15 deadline to write a permanent constitution – a task that cannot be undertaken until a government is in place.

– Associated Press

MIDDLE EAST

U.N. ENVOY SAYS SYRIA TO WITHDRAW COMPLETELY BY APRIL 30

Syria plans to pull all its troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon by April 30, and a U.N. team could be dispatched to verify the withdrawal, a U.N. envoy said yesterday after meeting President Assad. The full withdrawal will mark the end of Syria’s 29-year military presence in Lebanon and will comply with the demands in a U.N. resolution, helping to relieve the international pressure on Damascus.

U.N. envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said the Syrian foreign minister, Farouk al-Sharaa, had informed him “all Syrian troops, military assets, and the intelligence apparatus will have been withdrawn fully and completely” by April 30, at the latest. Mr. Roed-Larsen said the Syrian commitment implies all its security forces will be withdrawn in line with the 1989 Taif agreement, which paved the way for the end of the Lebanese civil war, and U.N. resolution 1559 that was passed by the Security Council in September.

– Associated Press

ABBAS TO CHALLENGE TERRORIST GROUPS

RAMALLAH, West Bank – After weeks of hesitation, Palestinian Arab leader Mahmoud Abbas has finally made moves to challenge the powerful terrorist groups sowing chaos across the West Bank. In the end, he was spurred into action by domestic concerns, including an audacious rampage by terrorists through Ramallah and the very real fear of impending electoral defeat, rather than by persistent American and Israeli demands that he crack down on armed groups. On Saturday, Mr. Abbas forced out West Bank security chief Ismail Jaber – a corruption-tainted patron of some of the terrorists – and said he would forcibly retire hundreds of senior officers. This was seen as a strong signal that he is serious about security reform and no longer willing to tolerate terrorists’ defiance. Lacking an independent power base, Mr. Abbas had resisted taking on the terrorists since he was elected in January to head the Palestinian Authority after Yasser Arafat’s death.

– Associated Press

SOUTHEAST ASIA

BOMBS IN THAILAND AIRPORT, DEPARTMENT STORE KILL AT LEAST TWO

A series of bomb blasts yesterday hit a Western-owned department store chain and a regional airport, killing at least two people and wounding dozens in southern Thailand, officials said. The three explosions occurred in Songkhla, a province just north of where an Islamic insurgency has been active since early last year, and the bombings raised the possibility that the insurgents could be expanding their field of operations. Songkhla Governor Somporn Chaibongyang said two people were killed by an explosion at Hat Yai airport, the main gateway to Thailand’s far south. Another bomb exploded at the Carrefour department store in Hat Yai town, the governor said. Thai press said as many as five people had died, including three at Carrefour, part of a French-owned chain, but the reports could not be confirmed.

– Associated Press