NORTH AFRICA

ABBAS DENIES AL QAEDA PRESENCE

TUNIS, Tunisia – Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas denied yesterday that Al Qaeda cells were operating in Gaza or the West Bank, and he dismissed American and Israeli demands that the terrorist group Hamas should be barred from running in parliamentary elections.

Mr. Abbas, speaking to AP Television News in what he said was his first interview in English since taking office a year ago, rejected claims made this week by Israel’s president, Moshe Katsav, that “terror groups, including some Al Qaeda cells, have formed” in the Gaza Strip since Israel’s pullout in August.

– Associated Press

NORTH AFRICA

RULING PARTY WINS 112 SEATS IN FIRST ROUND OF EGYPTIAN ELECTION

CAIRO, Egypt – Egypt’s ruling National Democratic Party won 112 seats out of the 164 contested seats in the first round, which entailed an initial vote November 9, then a runoff Tuesday, according to final results announced yesterday.

Justice Minister Mahmoud Abu el-Leil also confirmed that the banned Muslim Brotherhood won 34 seats. Independents got 13 seats and three opposition parties won five seats – two each to the centrist Wafd and leftist Tagammu parties and one to the centrist Ghad Party.

– Associated Press

CENTRAL EUROPE

HISTORIAN ARRESTED ON HOLOCAUST DENIAL CHARGES

VIENNA, Austria – British historian David Irving, who once said that Adolf Hitler knew nothing about the systematic slaughter of 6 million Jews, has been arrested in Austria on a warrant accusing him of denying the Holocaust. Mr. Irving, 67, was detained November 11 in Styria on a warrant issued in 1989 under Austrian laws making Holocaust denial a crime, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, police Major Rudolf Gollia, said yesterday.

Associated Press

PERSIAN GULF

SAUDI COURT SENTENCES TEACHER FOR BLASPHEMY

A Saudi high school chemistry teacher accused of discussing religion with his students, Mohammed Salamah al-Harbi, has been sentenced to 750 lashes and 40 months in prison for blasphemy. Mr. al-Harbi was convicted of questioning and ridiculing Islam, discussing the Bible, and defending Jews, judicial officials said yesterday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

– Associated Press

U.S. WARNS IRAQIS TO KEEP SHIITE MILITIAS OUT OF SECURITY SERVICES

BAGHDAD, Iraq – America warned Iraqi officials yesterday against allowing Shiite militias a role in the security services following allegations of torture of Sunni Arabs by the Shiite-led Interior Ministry. The official in charge of the ministry said torture claims were exaggerated.

Sectarian rhetoric sharpened four days after American troops found up to 173 malnourished detainees in an Interior Ministry building in the capital’s Jadriyah district. Most were believed to be Sunni Arabs.

– Associated Press

CARIBBEAN

NEW DATES SET FOR HAITIAN ELECTIONS

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Haiti’s first elections since the ouster of President Aristide will be delayed again until nearly the end of next month, Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue said yesterday. The first round of the legislative and presidential elections will be December 27 followed by a runoff on January 31.

– Associated Press

EAST ASIA

U.S. SERVICEMAN CONVICTED OF MOLESTING JAPANESE GIRL

TOKYO – A Japanese Naha District Court yesterday convicted an American Air Force serviceman, Staff Sergeant Armando Valdez, 28, of molesting a 10-year-old Japanese girl on Okinawa in July, sentencing him to a suspended prison sentence of 18 months for indecent assault.

– Associated Press

SOUTHEAST ASIA

MASKED MAN THREATENS ATTACKS AGAINST U.S.

JAKARTA, Indonesia – A video found in the hideout of one of Asia’s most wanted terrorists shows a masked man threatening attacks against America, Britain, and Australia.

Police suspect the man in the video could be Noordin Mohamad Top, considered a key leader of the Al Qaeda-linked Southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah.

– Associated Press

EAST AFRICA

RWANDAN PLEADS GUILTY TO GENOCIDE-RELATED CHARGES

ARUSHA, Tanzania – A former Rwandan mayor, Paul Bisengimana, pleaded guilty yesterday to charges of murder and extermination related to the 1994 genocide. Bisengimana was charged by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda with having organized and participated in the killing of several thousand people who sought refuge in a church in his town.

– Associated Press