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.

NORTH AMERICA
RICE: ISRAEL SHOULD OPEN BORDERS FOR PALESTINIAN DEVELOPMENT
OTTAWA – Secretary of State Rice suggested yesterday that Israel must loosen controls at border crossings to allow freer passage for Palestinian Arabs and economic development in areas that would one day be an independent Palestinian state. Ms. Rice did not specifically call on Israel to change its border policies, but she did not dispute the findings of a Middle East envoy, James Wolfensohn, that Israel was stalling in the restoration of movement across the borders. Borders “need to get freed up so that the kind of economic program we all want to see in the Palestinian territories” can begin, Ms. Rice said.
Mr. Wolfensohn is “simply asking the parties to do everything they can now that the Israelis are out of the Gaza to make sure that Gaza is going to be a place where Palestinians can see a different kind of life and therefore start to build the foundations for a Palestinian state,” she said.
– Associated Press
SOUTH AMERICA
VENEZUELA COURT SENTENCES 30 IN ALLEGED ASSASSINATION PLOT
CARACAS, Venezuela – A military court sentenced three former Venezuelan military officers and 27 Colombians to prison terms ranging from two to nine years yesterday for an alleged plot to kill President Chavez. The court also found 73 other Colombians innocent and ordered they be freed from prison, where they have been held for more than 17 months, the state-run Bolivarian News Agency reported.
– Associated Press
WESTERN EUROPE
GALLOWAY: ‘I’M BEGGING PROSECUTION’ OVER OIL FOR FOOD
LONDON – A member of Britain’s parliament, George Galloway, yesterday denied claims by American senators that he solicited money from Saddam Hussein’s oil-for-food program and lied about it under oath. He also denied any knowledge of an alleged $150,000 payment to his Palestinian wife said to have derived from Iraqi oil money.
Responding to a report published by an investigative committee of the Senate on Monday he challenged senators to either charge him with perjury or drop the allegations. “I am demanding prosecution. I’m begging prosecution. If I have lied under oath to the Senate, that’s a criminal offense. Charge me and I’ll head for the airport right now,” he said.
– The Daily Telegraph
BBC ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR ARABIC TV AND INFORMATION SERVICE
LONDON – The BBC World Service said yesterday it would launch an Arabic TV and information service, and end radio services in 10 other languages to help pay for the venture. The Arabic service will be the first publicly funded international television service launched by the British Broadcasting Corporation. Its BBC World TV service is a commercial venture. The BBC said it would end radio broadcasts in Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Kazakh, Polish, Slovak, Slovene, and Thai by March.
– Associated Press
THOUSANDS MAY LOSE RIGHT TO LIVE IN BRITAIN
LONDON – Britain may sever its historic ties to tens of thousands of Commonwealth nationals who have a right through descent to live and work there. A new “managed migration” system could mean the end of ancestry visas under which people whose grandparents were born in Britain can come for four years and apply to stay. A Home Office review has been considering sweeping changes to the immigration system, under which low-skilled workers from outside the European Union will not be eligible to settle in Britain. Yesterday it confirmed that the ancestry visa scheme could be swept away by the reforms.
– The Daily Telegraph
REPORT DOCUMENTS DECADES OF CATHOLIC SEX ABUSE IN IRELAND
DUBLIN, Ireland -Former bishops, police, and state agencies did too little to prevent the alleged sexual abuse of more than 100 children by Roman Catholic priests in southeast Ireland over a 36-year period, a report published yesterday charged. The 2 1 / 2 -year probe, led by retired Irish Supreme Court Judge Frank Murphy, found that two former bishops of the Ferns diocese, Brendan Comiskey and Donal Herlihy, protected abusers within the clergy. The report also found that Ireland’s national police force rarely investigated complaints of abuse properly. In addition, it said officials at government-appointed health boards sometimes failed to act on reports of abuse.
– Associated Press
GREEKS WIN EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS TO ‘FETA’
BRUSSELS – The European Union’s top court yesterday granted Greece exclusive rights to produce “feta” over the protests of cheese makers from Denmark, Germany, and Britain. The European Court of Justice ended a legal battle stretching back more than a decade and upheld Greek demands that the name “feta” should be reserved for white cheese made in Greece. The judges in Luxembourg agreed with a 2002 ruling by the European Commission that feta was a “protected designation of origin,” entitled to formal E.U. legal protection.
– The Daily Telegraph
CENTRAL ASIA
MILITANTS KILL 6 CIVILIANS IN BOTCHED ATTACK ON U.S. CONVOY
KABUL, Afghanistan – Militants killed six civilians in a botched ambush on an American troop convoy south of Kabul, officials said yesterday, while to the east attackers gunned down two senior police officers. The assaults, along with the discovery of a cache of bombs in a Kabul junkyard, underlined the threats to the city.
Interior Ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanekzai said militants were suspected of plotting to use the bombs against international peacekeepers based in the capital. The attacks near Kabul came within hours of each other, though it was unclear whether they were coordinated.
– Associated Press