World
The UN's nuclear watchdog handed Iran a diplomatic victory, certifying that the latter's compliance with terms of an agreement on suspending the enrichment of uranium is complete. The International Atomic Energy Agency's board then approved a resolution to be sent to the Security Council that does not call for economic sanctions against the Tehran government. But as the IAEA was acting, an Iranian delegate told a TV interviewer that centrifuges used in enriching uranium would continue to operate. Meanwhile, hundreds of pro-government protesters in Tehran demonstrated outside the British Embassy, burning flags, hurling rocks, and complaining of too much capitulation to the West on the nuclear issue.
The first humanitarian aid was being distributed to residents of Fallujah three weeks after the US-led offensive to clear the city of terrorists. But in Hit, 155 miles west of Baghdad, a terrorist exploded a car bomb outside a police station, killing 12 people and wounding 10 others.
If allegations of vote-rigging are proven, Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich said he'd support a new election for president. But Yanukovich, who was declared the winner of the disputed Nov. 21 runoff against opposition leader Viktor Yusch-enko, also said he'd seen no evidence that would lead the Supreme Court to rule that the runoff was invalid. The court gave Yanukovich's legal team until Tuesday to study evidence in the case. Yuschenko has demanded another vote, to be held Dec. 12.
A runoff appeared all but certain in Romania, where ballot-counting indicated that both the ruling Social Democratic Party and the opposition coalition were shy of a majority in Sunday's votes for president and a new parliament. If the trend holds up when official results are announced, a runoff would be held Dec. 12. Romania adjoins Ukraine, which is in crisis because of alleged vote-rigging, and the Liberal-Democratic opposition has demanded an investigation into similar charges.
The military junta that rules Burma (Myanmar) has decided to keep democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest until at least next September, her political party said. That would appear to dash all hopes that the 1991 Nobel Peace Prizewinner might be freed as part of the mass release of prisoners - among them some of her supporters - promised by the government. Suu Kyi has been confined for much of the time since her National League for Democracy won a landslide election victory in 1990, only to have the army refuse to hand over power.
