World
Iran will ignore any further resolutions put before the UN Security Council regarding its nuclear program, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said. In his speech to the General Assembly Tuesday, he said Iran considers the nuclear issue "closed" and will deal henceforth only with the International Atomic Energy Agency, which he called the "appropriate legal path." US delegates walked out of the chamber as Ahmadinejad rose to speak. For his part, he stayed for President Bush's address, but removed his earpiece so he couldn't hear the translation.
Coalition forces in Afghanistan claimed one of their biggest successes against the Taliban in months Wednesday. In separate encounters in southern Helmand and Uruzgan provinces, they killed at least 165 of the enemy, while taking five casualties of their own, a statement said. The fighting occurred as Afghan President Hamid Karzai was preparing for a meeting with President Bush at the UN in New York on security and other issues.
Leaders of the ethnic-Albanian majority in Kosovo threatened a unilateral declaration of statehood if critical negotiations that open Friday in New York end in failure. The talks on the province's future "will be extremely difficult," Serbian President Boris Tadic conceded, and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said his country "will never recognize the existence of an independent ... Kosovo." Kostunica's government said it will take diplomatic reprisals against any Western government that supports an independence declaration. Above, graffiti in Serbia's capital, Belgrade, reads, "We won't give up on Kosovo.
A ruling by Pakistan's Supreme Court on whether President Pervez Musharraf may seek reelection while still chief of the Army could come as soon as Thursday, reports said. Musharraf's nomination papers are due to be filed at the same time, a move that opponents have argued he is not entitled to. He has said he will give up the military post if elected Oct. 6. If he loses, aides say, he'll remain as commander until the new president nominates a successor.
Police discovered six bombs that had been planted near a rail station in Mumbai (Bombay), India, Tuesday night, but appeared ready to dismiss them as not terrorism-related. The discovery came on the last day of a Hindu religious festival that attracts large crowds to the city. India's national cricket team also was about to be honored there after winning a major international tournament. In July of last year, terrorist bombs killed 187 commuters at Mumbai rail stations.
Ending years of silence, exiled dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier of Haiti issued a plea for forgiveness for "any physical, moral, or economic wrongs" committed during his 15-year rule. But current President Rene Préval rejected it as inadequate Tuesday and said he has asked banks in Switzerland to freeze accounts holding an estimated $6.3 million that Duvalier is accused of looting from the public treasury before fleeing Haiti for France in 1986. Préval said he'd seek a court order for the money to be returned.
Opposition leaders filed a motion of no-confidence in parliament against Prime Minister Bertie Ahern of Ireland over an admission that he accepted almost $150,000 from businessmen for his personal use. Ahern told a commission of inquiry that he took the cash in the early 1990s while serving as finance minister because a marital separation had left him short of funds. Legal analysts call his testimony implausible.
A suspension bridge being built with Japanese financing collapsed in Vietnam Wednesday, killing as many as 60 members of the construction crew, authorities said. At least 150 others were hospitalized, many with critical injuries, and dozens more were reported missing. The bridge (above) was to span the Hau River at Can Tho, 105 miles south of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon).
