MIDDLE EAST

SHARON’S DOCTORS FACE CRITICISM

JERUSALEM – Prime Minister Sharon’s doctors faced new criticism yesterday for failing to divulge a brain disease discovered after the prime minister’s initial stroke and for prescribing blood thinners that may have contributed to a massive second stroke.

As Mr. Sharon lay comatose for an eighth day yesterday, a brain scan showed the remnants of the blood in his brain from a January 4 stroke have been absorbed, hospital officials said in a statement. In response, doctors removed a tube they had inserted into Mr. Sharon’s skull to relieve pressure on his brain, the statement said. In coming days, doctors may have to cut a hole in Mr. Sharon’s neck to assist breathing.

– Associated Press

LIKUD PUTS FORTH HARD-LINE CANDIDATES

JERUSALEM – The Likud Party yesterday chose a list of candidates for March 28 parliamentary election that underscores its hard line, opposing further concessions to the Palestinian Arabs. As the election by the 3,000-member central committee began, the four Likud Cabinet ministers gave in to party leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s order to resign from the government. The first two slots on the election slate were reserved for Mr. Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.

– Associated Press

PERSIAN GULF

MILITARY PREDICTS VIOLENCE WHEN ELECTION RESULTS ARE RELEASED

BAGHDAD, Iraq – The American military predicted yesterday that more violence will engulf Iraq in the weeks ahead as the country’s splintered politicians and religious groups struggle to form a government. The warning followed a week marked by what U.S. Brigadier General Donald Alston described as “horrific attacks,” amid deteriorating relations between the Iraq’s largest Shiite religious group and Sunni Arabs who make up the core of the opposition.

General Alston, spokesman for the American-led coalition force, said attacks that have killed at least 500 people since the December 15 elections are a sign insurgents are using the difficult transition to a new government to destabilize the democratic process.

– Associated Press

EAST ASIA

U.S. ENVOY HAS NO PLANS TO MEET NORTH KOREAN LEADER IN CHINA

BEIJING – The top American negotiator on North Korea’s nuclear programs said yesterday that he has no plans to meet the isolated regime’s leader while in China, where Kim Jong Il is widely believed to have traveled. Mr. Kim was reported to have gone by train Tuesday to China, his country’s closest ally. But the trip has yet to be announced officially by North Korean or Chinese authorities, and his ultimate destination was unknown.

Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Christopher Hill arrived yesterday from Seoul and met with his Chinese counterpart, Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei. Mr. Hill said earlier he hoped to learn the latest North Korean thinking, but declined to give any details as he emerged from the meeting at a government guesthouse.

– Associated Press

MONGOLIA’S LARGEST PARTY AGREES TO RETHINK GOVERNMENT PULLOUT

ULAN BATOR, Mongolia – Protesters stormed the headquarters of Mongolia’s biggest political party yesterday, reportedly forcing the party to reconsider its decision to withdraw from the ruling coalition, a move that would topple the government. About 1,500 protesters, who had gathered earlier in the city’s central square for a rally, shattered the glass doors and windows of the headquarters of the Mongolian People’s Revolution Party as they entered the building. No party leaders were in the building and no injuries were reported.

– Associated Press

WEST AFRICA

GUNMEN KIDNAP FOREIGN OIL WORKERS IN NIGERIA; PIPELINE RUPTURES

LAGOS, Nigeria – Gunmen stormed an offshore oil platform run by Royal Dutch Shell in Nigeria and kidnapped four foreign workers. Gunmen in three boats seized the workers from a support vessel attached to the oil platform Wednesday, a Shell spokesman, Andy Corrigan, said in London. A military spokesman, Major Said Hameed, said the four included an American, a Bulgarian, a Briton, and a Honduran, and “efforts are being made to secure their release.”

In a separate incident, a major pipeline feeding Shell’s Forcados oil export terminal ruptured overnight at Brass Creek, forcing the company to stop production of 106,000 barrels of oil daily, Shell said.

– Associated Press

WESTERN EUROPE

GERMAN COURT SENTENCES IRAQI TO SEVEN YEARS IN PRISON

MUNICH, Germany – A German court convicted an Iraqi Kurd of aiding Al Qaeda-linked militants who carried out suicide bombings in his home country and sentenced him yesterday to seven years in prison. Amin Lokman Mohamed, 33, was convicted of belonging to a foreign terrorist organization and human trafficking for helping the group Ansar al-Islam.

– Associated Press

BRITAIN ‘LIKE THE INSIDE OF A TOILET,’ HAMZA SAYS Abu Hamza, the Muslim preacher, was heard calling for the “blood and destruction” of non-believers yesterday and describing Britain as a country “like the inside of a toilet.” The jury at his trial on nine counts of soliciting to murder, four counts of using threatening, abusive, or insulting behavior, and two further counts of possessing abusive recordings with a view to distribution and possession of a document useful to preparing terrorism heard the former imam speak for the first time in two videos made by his followers. Mr. Hamza was also heard accusing Prime Minister Blair of killing Muslim children.

– The Daily Telegraph