Foreign Desk
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

PERSIAN GULF
U.S. TROOPS BATTLE INSURGENTS AT SYRIAN BORDER
QAIM, Iraq – American troops battled insurgents holed up in houses and driving explosives-laden vehicles in a second town near the Syrian border yesterday, killing 28 in an expansion of their two-day-old offensive chasing Al Qaeda fighters along the Euphrates River valley, the military said.
Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed to have taken two Marines captive during the fighting and threatened to kill them within 24 hours unless all female Sunni detainees are released from American and Iraqi prisons in the country. The American military said the claim appeared false.
Even as the fighting continued, political differences among Iraqi leaders deepened ahead of the crucial October 15 national vote on a new constitution. Iraq’s Kurdish president, Jalal Talabani, called on the Shiite prime minister to step down over accusations he is monopolizing power in the government and ignoring his Kurdish coalition partners’ demands, a spokesman for Mr. Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan said.
– Associated Press
MIDDLE EAST
ABBAS, SHARON TO HOLD SUMMIT
JERUSALEM – Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas agreed yesterday to hold their first summit since Israel’s pullout from Gaza as part of their efforts to restart the stalled Middle East peace process, officials from both sides said. The announcement came as a new flare-up in fighting – blamed for the cancellation of a previously scheduled summit – eased in recent days.
Israeli officials said yesterday they were suspending the wide-ranging offensive against Palestinian Arab terrorists following a lull in rocket attacks against Israeli towns, but said they would restart the operation if the rocket fire resumed. The officials said the operation succeeded in weakening terrorists’ ability to attack Israel from Gaza.
As the offensive wound down, Hamas terrorists waged gun battles with Palestinian Arab police across Gaza City last night that killed three people – two bystanders and a police officer – and wounded at least 50 others, including 10 police officers, according to the Palestinian Interior Ministry.
– Associated Press
EAST ASIA
N. KOREA TO RESUME FOOD RATIONING
SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea plans to resume full-scale food rationing across the impoverished communist country after ending grain sales, a U.N. relief agency said.
North Korea significantly scaled back its food-rationing system in July 2002, while introducing an economic reform program that increased wages. The reform measures failed, however, as inflation soared amid shortages of food and other goods. The isolated country has relied on outside handouts to feed its people after natural disasters and mismanagement caused its economy to collapse in the mid-1990s. Famine has killed an estimated 2 million people.
– Associated Press
WESTERN EUROPE
MERKEL WINS ANOTHER SEAT
BERLIN – Germany’s Angela Merkel scored a symbolic point against her rival, Chancellor Schroeder, yesterday, winning an extra seat in the last remaining district in parliamentary elections and increasing pressure on Mr. Schroeder to concede defeat. The victory for Mrs. Merkel’s Christian Democrats in Dresden increased the conservative bloc’s advantage over Mr. Schroeder’s SPD party from three to four seats.
– The Daily Telegraph
LAST-MINUTE TALKS BEGIN OVER TURKEY’S E.U. ENTRY
LUXEMBOURG – E.U. leaders were challenged yesterday to keep their word and allow Turkey to begin membership talks with the European Union today.
The British foreign secretary, Jack Straw, said opening Europe’s doors to Turkey represented the best chance of binding Islam to the West. His words were echoed by the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said the European Union could become a “world player” by admitting his nation or it could admit that it was a “Christian club.”
– The Daily Telegraph