PERSIAN GULF

AL-SISTANI WITHHOLDS ENDORSEMENT OF SHIITE COALITION

NAJAF, Iraq – Iraq’s top Shiite cleric has decided to withhold his endorsement of a Shiite coalition that swept last January’s general election, rejecting repeated pleas by senior politicians for him to reconsider, associates on both sides said yesterday.

The move by the Iranian-born Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani reflected the cleric’s disappointment with the performance of Prime Minister al-Jaafari’s Shiite-led government, according to three associates of the cleric who are in regular contact with him. Their comments represent the first known rift between the prominent ayatollah and the Shiite political parties he has supported since the ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

– Associated Press

CARIBBEAN

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AWARDS SAKHAROV PRIZE TO CUBAN MOVEMENT

In a marked departure from official European attitudes toward Cuba, the European Parliament encouraged the island nation’s pro-democracy movement by awarding Cuba’s Women in White movement its Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, named for famed Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov.

The Sakharov Prize awards “outstanding achievements in the fight to protect freedom of thought and expression against intolerance, fanaticism, and hatred.” The Women in White, many the wives or relatives of dissidents jailed by the Castro regime, have garnered international attention for their protests against the dictator in Havana.

In June, the European Union, despite an acknowledged failure by Mr. Castro to curb his regime’s human rights abuses, granted the Cuban strongman a reprieve on diplomatic sanctions it imposed after the infamous crackdown in March 2003 that resulted in the detention of 75 independent librarians, academics, and journalists.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

WESTERN EUROPE

PRESIDENT’S MEN TUMBLE IN CHIRAC TRIAL PARIS – The suspicion of past corruption tainting Jacques Chirac’s presidency returned to haunt him yesterday when a court imposed suspended sentences and fines on his former henchmen. The outcome of the trial was another indictment of a political system riddled with corruption from the late 1980s to the mid 1990s.The main beneficiary of the kickbacks was the RPR, the party Mr. Chirac founded in 1976. As president, Mr. Chirac has immunity from prosecution.

His chief of staff when he was mayor of Paris, Michel Roussin, 66, yesterday received a suspended jail term of four years and was fined $62,000.The former RPR president of the Paris regional council, Michel Giraud, 75, also received a four-year suspended prison sentence and was ordered to pay a $62,000 fine. An exsports minister, Guy Drut, 54, was given a 15-month suspended sentence and fined $62,000.

– The Daily Telegraph

BLAIR LAUNCHES CALL FOR COMMON EUROPEAN ENERGY POLICY

STRASBOURG, France – Prime Minister Blair yesterday invited the European Union to extend its reach into a sweeping range of new policy areas, from company taxation to university reforms, a “common energy policy” for Europe, and the management of immigration. On the eve of a summit of E.U. leaders today at Hampton Court, Mr. Blair said in a speech to the European Parliament: “We need to get Europe moving and we need to get it moving in the right direction.”

– The Daily Telegraph

NORWAY FORGIVES WOMEN WHO SLEPT WITH NAZIS

BERLIN – Norwegian women who slept with German soldiers during World War II and have been denied a special pension ever since as punishment are to be forgiven. Known as “tysketoser,” they have until now been excluded from the war pension paid to all who remained true to “good national principles” during the occupation. Now Norway’s government has quietly reversed its policy of discrimination against the women and will start paying the money to the few dozen left. About 14,000 women who had relationships with the enemy were arrested at the end of the war and 5,000 were sent to labor camps.

– The Daily Telegraph

U.N. SAYS DONORS PLEDGING $580 MILLION FOR QUAKE VICTIMS

GENEVA – Governments and other donors told the United Nations yesterday they were pledging an additional $580 million for Pakistani earthquake victims, but U.N. officials said it was unclear how much would be earmarked for immediate relief efforts with the bitter Himalayan winter looming.

The U.N. had requested $550 million in immediate aid on the eve of the donors’ conference in Geneva, but officials said some of the new money might go to other humanitarian organizations or future reconstruction projects. So far, $111 million has been specifically earmarked for the U.N. appeal, the top U.N. relief coordinator, Jan Egeland, told reporters. He criticized donors who are giving money for reconstruction, saying many of the survivors may not live long enough to benefit unless they get food and shelter soon.

– Associated Press

EASTERN EUROPE

BIRD FLU FOUND IN CROATIA

BRUSSELS, Belgium – The European Union said yesterday the dangerous H5N1 strain of bird flu has been found in Croatia, while authorities said a second parrot that died in quarantine in Britain was also infected with the virus. The Chinese government, meanwhile, announced that a bird flu outbreak has killed 545 chickens and ducks in a village in central China.

– Associated Press

EAST ASIA

U.S. MOVES OKINAWA AIR BASE

TOKYO – America agreed yesterday to move an air base into another military site on the Japanese island of Okinawa. Okinawans, whose small, southern island houses more than half of the 50,000 American troops stationed in Japan, have long protested about the disruption to daily life caused by the heavy military presence.

Washington and Tokyo agreed to move the Futenma Air Base a decade ago. However, no firm plans had been agreed by a 2003 deadline. America has now accepted Tokyo’s proposal to move the air station to an existing base, Camp Schwab. Pressure has been building to resolve the dispute before President Bush visits Tokyo next month.

– The Daily Telegraph