PERSIAN GULF

IRANIANS CALL FOR TALKS TO INCLUDE NON-EUROPEANS

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran yesterday called for more countries to join France, Germany, and Britain in talks about its nuclear program. Iran’s new top nuclear negotiator, hard-liner Ali Larijani, didn’t specify any nations but said Iran would welcome negotiations with all 35 members of the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog agency – as well as members of the Non-Aligned Movement, a bloc of 116 mostly developing countries.

America dismissed the proposal as a “typical tactic of the Iranian government designed to change the subject.”

– Associated Press

NORTH AFRICA

TWO SENIOR EGYPTIAN POLICEMEN KILLED

CAIRO, Egypt – Two senior Egyptian police officers were killed yesterday by land mines, security officials said. Major General Mahmoud Adel and Lieutenant Colonel Omar Abdel Moneim were the highest-ranking police officers killed in Egypt since an Islamist insurgency in the mid-1990s,and the first slain since 4,000 security personnel began a sweep Sunday of the northern Sinai for suspects linked to July’s Sharm el-Sheik attacks and two October resort bombings.

– Associated Press

WESTERN EUROPE

GERMAN HIGH COURT OKAYS SEPTEMBER ELECTION

BERLIN – Germany’s highest court, the Federal Constitutional Court, ruled 7-1 yesterday that federal elections can go ahead as planned September 18, dismissing complaints against the early vote from two lawmakers. The decision removed the final obstacle to Chancellor Schroeder’s drive to hold elections a year ahead of schedule.

– Associated Press

FIRE IN PARIS APARTMENT BUILDING KILLS AT LEAST 17

PARIS – A fire raced through a Paris apartment building housing African immigrant families early Friday, killing at least 17 people, at least half of them children, police said.

About 30 people were injured, two seriously. Most of the dead were from the west African nation of Mali, officials said.

The fire broke out shortly after midnight in the building’s stairwell. About 210 firefighters worked for an hour and a half before bringing the blaze under control.

– Associated Press

CONVICTED TERRORISTS COULD BECOME POLICE OFFICERS

BELFAST, Northern Ireland – Convicted terrorists could be allowed to join the Police Service of Northern Ireland under plans being explored by the British government to expunge their criminal records. Northern Ireland politicians are increasingly worried that Prime Minister Blair will make the concession to Sinn Fein/Irish Republican Army and remove the bar that prevents paramilitaries from becoming police officers.

– The Daily Telegraph

EASTERN EUROPE

RUSSIAN POLITICIAN SURVIVES ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia – Two bombs exploded yesterday on a roadside in Ingushetia, wounding the southern Russian republic’s prime minister, Ibragim Malsagov, in an apparent assassination attempt, officials said. Mr. Malsagov was hospitalized after the attack in the city of Nazran, an aide to the Kremlin envoy to the region, Fyodor Shcherbakov, said. Nazran is the main city in Ingushetia, which has suffered frequent spillover violence from neighboring Chechnya, as well as attacks by its own militants and criminal gangs.

– Associated Press

NORTH AMERICA

NEW YORK COMPTROLLER URGES COMPANIES TO REVIEW SUDAN BUSINESS

New York’s comptroller, William Thompson, has a new target for divestment: Sudan. Yesterday he urged companies to review their business with the country in light of Khartoum’s human rights violations and attempted genocide in Darfur.

The comptroller yesterday sent letters to five companies the city’s pension fund has invested in urging them to reconsider their business with Sudan. The companies include Alcatel of France, BAE Systems of Britain, China Petroleum & Chemical, Finmeccanica of Italy, and Royal Dutch Petroleum of the Netherlands. The city’s pension funds hold more than $200 million in stock in such companies. A similar move was announced yesterday by the California state pension fund.

Last year, Mr. Thompson succeeded in pressuring General Electric and Halliburton to scale back their business with Iran, a state – like Sudan – deemed a sponsor of international terrorism.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun