World
Iraqi demands for changes to the new UN resolution of weapons inspections and disarmament were rejected as "political theater" by the Bush administration. A presidential spokesman said nothing in the resolution "is negotiable." The Iraqi move came as The New York Times reported that Saddam Hussein's government has ordered 1 million doses of antidotes to nerve gas, mostly from a supplier in Turkey and likely for the protection of its own soldiers in case of a US attack. The report said Turkey is being pressured to withhold delivery.
A veiled warning was issued by Iran's supreme leader that his toughest military units may be called in unless thousands of university students abandon their latest antigovernment protest, which entered its fourth day Tuesday. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a national TV broadcast that he wouldn't hesitate to resort to "popular force" to quell the demonstrations over the death sentence against a popular social reform advocate. Tuesday's protest in Tehran, the capital, was the largest to date and demonstrations also were taking place in Tabriz, Isfahan, and other cities.
Israeli forces swept into the West Bank city of Tulkarem and an adjacent refugee compound in search of the gunman who sneaked into a kibbutz last weekend and shot five residents to death. A house belonging to a local militia leader was demolished, but the Israeli response was more low-key than had been expected, apparently due to the arrival of special US envoy David Satterfield for the start of a new mission to detail a proposed peace plan that would lead to Palestinian statehood by 2005.
The first major street protests in Afghanistan's capital since its liberation from Taliban rule turned violent, with police using water cannon and gunfire to drive angry students back into their dormitories. Student leaders said at least four people were killed and an unspecified number of others were arrested. Authorities acknowledged one death and said 15 people were hurt. The protesters complained of poor living conditions. Above, a policeman kicks at one of the protesters.
A manhunt was under way in Indonesia for two brothers of a suspect who reportedly confessed to playing a role in the Oct. 12 bombing of popular Bali nightclubs. Both are teachers at an Islamic boarding school. A cache of rifles and ammunition that witnesses said they saw the fugitives bury was unearthed and in police custody. Indonesia is under intense international pressure to crack the case of the world's worst terrorist attack since those of Sept. 11, 2001.
