PERSIAN GULF

SHIITE POLITICIAN ASKS FOR GOD’S HELP TO COUNTER INSURGENCY

BAGHDAD, Iraq – A leading Shiite politician, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, who leads the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, marked Islam’s feast of sacrifice yesterday by asking for God’s help to smite the insurgency, and warned his governing religious bloc would not allow substantive changes to Iraq’s new constitution – a key Sunni Arab demand.

American Army soldiers killed six insurgents in a firefight in Baghdad, including two wearing suicide belts. They arrested one man and confiscated a weapons cache that the Army said included 400 pounds of homemade explosives and components to make 15 pressure-activated bombs.

Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment came under fire, said Spc. George Welcome, of the 101st Airborne Division.

– Associated Press

MIDDLE EAST

AGENCY TRIES TO ALLAY FEARS OVER BIRD FLU OUTBREAK IN TURKEY

ANKARA, Turkey – International agencies warned against panic but cautioned yesterday that Turkey’s neighbors may be unable to keep out the bird flu that has infected at least 15 people across the country in the last week. Countries bordering Turkey continued to step up preventive measures, disinfecting cars at border crossings, handing out leaflets and blocking people carrying birds. But health officials said the measures may prove insufficient.

“The virus may be spreading despite the control measures already taken,” a senior animal health officer at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, Juan Lubroth, said. – Associated Press

ISRAEL FREEZES CONTACT WITH ROBERTSON FOR COMMENTS ON SHARON

JERUSALEM – Israel has suspended contact with evangelist Pat Robertson for suggesting Prime Minister Sharon’s stroke was divine punishment for withdrawing from the Gaza Strip.

The controversy has cast doubt on plans for a Christian tourism center that would showcase the growing flow of money and influence from American church groups.

The decision, announced yesterday by Israeli officials, does not affect other Christian groups that also consider it their spiritual duty to support Israel as fulfillment of biblical prophecy. Israeli leaders see the Christian allies as tireless lobbyists in Washington and elsewhere. The evangelicals also funnel millions of dollars each year to Jewish settlers in the West Bank and – before last year’s pullout – the Gaza Strip.

Tourism Minister Abraham Hirchson said he gave instructions to “stop all contact” with groups associated with Mr. Robertson. But Mr. Hirchson said the order did not apply to “all the evangelical community, God forbid.”

– Associated Press

EAST ASIA

N. KOREAN LEADER’S CHINA VISIT SPARKS HOPE FOR RESUMPTION OF TALKS

SHANGHAI, China – North Korean leader Kim Jong Il reportedly visited Shanghai yesterday, prompting speculation the rare foray to his country’s closest ally might signal a willingness to resume talks over Pyongyang’s nuclear program. None of the reports of a visit could be independently confirmed, and there was no sign of any unusual activity or added security in China’s commercial hub.

China has in the past announced the secretive Mr. Kim’s visits only after he has returned to North Korea. His last visit was in early 2004.

– Associated Press

DISGRACED STEM CELL SCIENTIST ASKS SOUTH KOREANS FOR FORGIVENESS

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – Disgraced scientist Hwang Woo-suk asked his fellow South Koreans for forgiveness yesterday at his first public appearance in almost three weeks, saying he takes full responsibility for his fraudulent stem cell research.

“I ask for your forgiveness,” Dr. Hwang told a nationally televised press conference in Seoul. “I feel so miserable that it’s difficult even to say sorry.”

– Associated Press

SOUTH ASIA

PAKISTAN’S QUAKE SURVIVORS MARK MUSLIM HOLIDAY WITH PRAYER

MUZAFFARABAD, PAKISTAN – Survivors of South Asia’s devastating earthquake observed the Islamic feast of sacrifice, Eid al-Adha, yesterday, marking the day with prayers for the 87,000 people killed in the disaster.

Sheep, cows, lambs and camels – some donated by aid organizations – were sacrificed as part of the holiday early yesterday, as more than 2 million survivors of an October 7.6-magnitude quake woke up on a bright sunny morning in the damage zone.

Celebrants, however, were soon served a jolting reminder of the earlier devastation, when another earthquake rattled northern Pakistan at midmorning. Yesterday’s 5.1-magnitude aftershock was felt in the capital Islamabad, as well as part of Kashmir and the country’s North West Frontier Province.

– Associated Press

WESTERN EUROPE

HAMZA HAD A ‘BLUEPRINT FOR TERRORISM’ LONDON – A Muslim preacher, Abu Hamza, had a 10-volume terrorism manual at his home that was dedicated to Osama bin Laden and featured a list of targets including Big Ben, skyscrapers, airports, and football stadiums, the Old Bailey heard yesterday.

The Encyclopedia of Afghani Jihad was written in Arabic between 1989 and 1999 with the help of Mujahadeen fighters in Afghanistan. It featured sections on explosives, sabotage, and assignation, the court was told at his trial. David Perry prosecuting, said it was a “manual, a blueprint for terrorism.”

Mr. Hamza, 47, who was born in Egypt and has lived in Britain for several years as a British citizen, is accused of nine counts of soliciting to murder, four counts of using threatening, abusive or insulting behavior, and two counts of possessing abusive recordings with a view to distribution and possession of a document useful to preparing terrorism.

– The Daily Telegraph

E.U. DRAFT CONSTITUTION IS DEAD, DUTCH DECLARE BRUSSELS – Federalist hopes of reviving the draft European Union constitution were snuffed out yesterday when the Dutch foreign minister said the treaty was “dead.” He swept away months of euphemisms and half-truths, as European leaders struggled to avoid being the first to declare an end to the constitutional project, after its rejection in referendums by French and Dutch voters.

Earlier this week the Austrian chancellor, Wolfgang Schussel, insisted that the constitution was “not dead, but in the middle of a ratification process.” Austria, which holds the European Union’s rotating presidency for the next six months, has pledged to work on reviving the constitution.

– The Daily Telegraph

EASTERN EUROPE

MAN CONVICTED OF THROWING GRENADE AT BUSH SENTENCED TO LIFE

TBILISI, Georgia – A court yesterday convicted a man of trying to assassinate President Bush and the leader of Georgia by throwing a grenade at them during a rally last year, and it sentenced him to life in prison. Vladimir Arutyunian also was convicted of killing a policeman during a shootout while authorities were trying to arrest him several weeks after the May 10, 2005, grenade incident at a rally that drew tens of thousands of people to the capital of this former Soviet republic.

The grenade that Mr. Arutyunian threw during the rally attended by Bush and President Saakashvili landed about 100 feet from the stage where they were standing behind a bulletproof barrier and did not explode. No one was hurt.

– Associated Press

SOUTHERN AFRICA

SOUTH AFRICAN RIOTS SPARKED BY INFLUX OF ZIMBABWEAN MIGRANTS

CHOBA SQUATTER CAMP, South Africa – A South African slum was strewn with debris and the shells of burnt out cars yesterday after three people died in unrest sparked by an influx of migrants from Zimbabwe. Choba squatter camp, 20 miles south of the capital, Pretoria, has had 10 days of unrest in a throwback to the riots that occurred in the worst days of apartheid.

Hundreds of thousands of desperate Zimbabweans have fled the economic crisis and repression of President Mugabe’s rule. Unprecedented numbers have poured into South Africa, competing for jobs and housing, and causing massive resentment.

The anger in Choba boiled over on Christmas Eve after an altercation between a Zimbabwean and the South African owner of a hair salon. It resulted in the murder of a South African. Gangs of South Africans armed with hammers, whips, and spades began attacking foreigners, with migrants from Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique among the victims. A gang of Zimbabweans, some with rifles and handguns, launched a retaliatory strike on Choba on Tuesday. They hurled gasoline bombs into shacks, assaulted the occupants, and set cars ablaze. Two men were killed in fighting. One, a Zimbabwean, was burned to death.

– The Daily Telegraph