World
Ramping up efforts to reach a diplomatic solution to North Korea's disputed nuclear program, a South Korean foreign ministry official was in Moscow Sunday to seek help in pressuring the isolated Communist state. Russia is one of the North's few allies. A flurry of strategy-planning meetings are set for this week among officials from the Bush administration, South Korea, and Japan. The Seoul government said it will present a proposal that requires compromises from both Washington and Pyongyang.
Bombings reportedly left at least 15 people dead and 20 others injured in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday morning. Two explosions were heard near a downtown bus station, Israel TV reported, in what the network said appeared to be a terrorist attack.
Taking aim for the first time at his main rival in Jan. 28 elections, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon criticized Amram Mitzna as inexperienced, and said the Labor Party leader would endanger the country by resuming peace negotiations with the Palestinians at the point where they broke off in January 2001. Mitzna denied the claim, but has said he supports the unconditional resumption of talks. Opinion polls show Sharon's Likud Party with a wide lead over Labor, although it has lessened recently due to a corruption scandal involving the Likud primary in November.
After first threatening to crash a small plane into a high-rise building in Frankfurt, Germany, an alleged hijacker landed safely at the city's airport. The incident prompted the evacuation of several skyscrapers in the European financial hub and the reported scrambling of German military aircraft.
A military court in Amman, Jordan, upheld its conviction and death sentence for Jordanian-American Raed Hijazi, rejecting an appeals court order for a retrial due to insufficient evidence. Hijazi is accused of plotting attacks on American and Israeli targets during New Year's celebrations in 2000. Hijazi's father insists his son is innocent and says he'll appeal the latest decision.
An attack on a government convoy by Islamist rebels in Algeria killed at least 43 people and injured 19 others, the daily Le Matin reported. The attack, which occurred Saturday near the village of Theniet el Abed, 200 miles south of the capital, Algiers, was the single deadliest rebel assault in six years in the strife-torn north African nation.
At least seven people were reported dead from flooding due to heavy rains in Europe. Rivers overflowed banks in France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Britain, and Portugal.
