World
A Palestinian gunman opened fire from his car yesterday, shooting 10 people, mostly soldiers, outside Israel's Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv. The gunman was injured by return fire. Israeli helicopters later launched missiles in the West Bank town of Tulkarem, killing a Hamas activist Israel claimed was organizing suicide attacks. Meanwhile, Marwan Barghouti, a prominent Palestinian leader, narrowly escaped with his life Saturday after two missiles landed near his car. After the attack, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat sent urgent letters to the US, Russia, China, and Europe calling for immediate intervention.
Citing constitutional concerns, Iran's supreme leader indefinitely postponed the swearing-in ceremony of reformist President Mohammad Khatami, which was to take place yesterday. A technicality requires the swearing-in to occur in the presence of the Guardian Council, a body that vets all bills before they become law, but the reformist parliament has yet to approve candidates to fill three vacant seats on the council. There is disagreement over whether the constitution requires all members to witness the ceremony.
US Fulbright scholar John Tobin prepared to return to the US after he was released from a Russian prison on parole from a one-year drug sentence. Tobin spent six months behind bars in Voronezh, the southern city where he was arrested in January. The case drew attention when city officials charged Tobin (above, walking toward a Moscow-bound train) was a spy. No such charges were filed.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to renew strategic ties and denounced the US for its missile-defense program. In summit talks held in the Kremlin, the two leaders signed a manifesto calling for closer ties on global issues and economic cooperation. Kim also renewed his pledge to freeze missile testing until 2003. Relations between the two former ideological allies had been frayed by Moscow's establishment of ties with South Korea in 1990 and by the Soviet Union's collapse.
Philippine soldiers rescued 13 hostages from Muslim separatist group Abu Sayyaf, which beheaded 10 other captives in a three-day spree of abduction that began Thursday in several southern villages. An army spokesman said 23 more were still being held. The group is holding another 20 separately, including three Americans.
In his fifth bid to become the first person to circle the globe solo in a balloon, US adventurer Steve Fossett launched his giant helium ballon from Australia and was drifting eastward toward the Pacific Ocean. At press time, all appeared to be going smoothly. The Chicago millionaire said he hoped to complete the trip in 15 days.
