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.

The New York Sun

Mexican Court To Resolve Challenges to Election

MONTERREY, Mexico — Mexico’s electoral court will resolve today 375 legal challenges to the results of the July 2 election, paving the way for the court to name a president-elect almost two months after the vote.The court’s seven judges will hold a public session beginning at 9 a.m. that will be broadcast on television and the Internet, the court said in a statement issued over e-mail. The Federal Electoral Institute’s final tally on July 6 declared that Felipe Calderon, 44, of President Fox’s National Action Party, won the election by 243,934 of the 40.9 million valid votes cast, but Mexico has had a history of election fraud. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, 52, of the Party of the Democratic Revolution, challenged the results on claims of fraud and undue influence on the race by Mr. Fox. Messrs. Calderon’s and Lopez Obrador’s parties submitted the challenges. The court has a deadline of August 31 to resolve the challenges and a September 6 deadline to declare the election valid.The court’s decisions cannot be appealed.

— Bloomberg News

French Soldiers Arrive in Lebanon

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Dozens of French soldiers arrived yesterday to help the Lebanese army rebuild bridges that were destroyed or damaged by Israeli airstrikes during the 34-day fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerrillas. The soldiers, who are not part of the expanding U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon known as UNIFIL, will go first to Damour, a coastal town south of Beirut, before heading to other areas in southern Lebanon. French military planes brought 120 soldiers yesterday and another 120 were due later in the day. They are expected to remain in Lebanon for at least six weeks, an officer of the French military mission based at the French Embassy in Beirut said.

— Associated Press

N. Korea Demands That America Lift Sanctions

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea demanded that America lift sanctions on its financial transactions, saying they are a “stumbling block” in resuming the six-party talks, according to the state news agency. “This is, in essence, a gangster-like act gravely infringing upon the sovereignty and dignity of its dialogue partner, as it is aimed at seriously tarnishing the image” of North Korea and “severing its economic ties with other countries,” the Korea Central News Agency said, quoting from a North Korean Foreign Ministry statement issued on Saturday. The U.S. Treasury Department, in a shift in its policy toward North Korea, has decided to treat all transactions involving the nation as suspect and subject to sanctions as long as leader Kim Jong Il continues to develop nuclear weapons. Earlier, it had targeted only overtly illegal activities by North Korean companies.

— Bloomberg News

Tribal Unrest Rocks Pakistani Province

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Mobs defied a curfew to run riot in the Pakistani province of Balochistan yesterday, denouncing President Musharraf after a tribal chieftain was killed in a commando raid on his cave hideout. Two bystanders and a policeman were killed in an exchange of fire.Vehicles, a bank, and a gas station were set on fire. Security forces were put on high alert and made hundreds of arrests as government officials feared that the tribal leader’s death would intensify an 18-month insurgency being waged by Baloch nationalist militants in the impoverished southwestern province. Nawab Mohammed Akbar Khan Bugti, 79, was killed on Saturday when a section of the cave complex in which he and up to 100 fighters had taken refuge collapsed after a sustained attack by Pakistani helicopter gunships and commandos.

— The Daily Telegraph

Chinese Catholic Bishop Released After 10 Years

BEIJING — A Roman Catholic bishop held in jail by the Chinese authorities for more than 10 years has been released, support groups overseas say, raising hopes for reconciliation talks between Beijing and the Vatican. An Shuxin, an auxiliary bishop in Hebei province in northern China, was detained in 1996. Since then, as with several other bishops appointed by the pope without Beijing’s approval, no news had been released about where he was being held or his condition. The Vatican and the communist government in Beijing do not recognize each other, but there have been on-off negotiations between the two sides since shortly before the death of Pope John Paul II last year. “We hope that this release is not an isolated case, but rather the beginning of the release of many dozens of other Roman Catholic bishops, priests and faithful currently being jailed by the authorities across China,” an American-based support group, the Cardinal Kung Foundation, said in a statement.

— The Daily Telegraph


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