World
In a joint statement, the governments of Russia and France called on Iran to halt the enrichment of uranium and all other activities connected with the processing of nuclear fuel. But a senior Iranian official denied Monday's reports that the centrifuges needed for such work had been restarted. He said technicians were only "preparing the ground" because "a facility that has been suspended for 2-1/2 years cannot become functional overnight." The official also said talks with the Russian government on its proposal to enrich uranium on Iran's behalf had been rescheduled for Monday in Moscow.
Hamas demanded that the Bush administration "respect the will of the Palestinian people" and halt efforts to destabilize the government it is about to form. Spokesman Mushir al-Masri was responding to a report Monday by The New York Times that the US and Israel were discussing ways to starve Hamas of power unless it officially recognizes the Jewish state.
Muslim fury at the caricatures of the prophet Muhammad led to riots in Pakistan's two major cities. Bank guards killed two attackers in Lahore, where cars and Western-owned businesses were destroyed by fire. In Islamabad, the capital, police resorted to tear gas and water cannon to repel hundreds of students who broke through their ranks in the neighborhood that houses many European embassies. In Iran, protesters pelted Germany's embassy with stones and firecrackers. Meanwhile, Denmark's defense minister rejected a demand by the provincial council in Basra, Iraq, that his government's troops be withdrawn over the cartoon issue.
Roadblocks remained in place and tensions were high in Haiti's capital Tuesday as elections officials delayed announcing the final results of last week's vote for president. At least one death was reported in Port-au-Prince after witnesses accused UN peacekeepers of shooting into a crowd of supporters of René Préval, the candidate who was expected to win easily. Other Préval supporters set tires on fire in the streets and invaded the hotel where the elections commission is based, demanding that it announce him as the victor. With vote-counting almost complete, however, his percentage had dropped to below 49 percent, setting up the prospect of a runoff against his closest rival, Leslie Manigat. Manigat's wife, Myrlande, said he would reject any approaches to withdraw from the race.
Two more cabinet ministers resigned and police ordered 20 other people to surrender their passports and any weapons in their possession as corruption scandals reached deeper into Kenya's government. The building that houses parliament in Nairobi was surrounded by riot police Tuesday amid threats by the opposition Orange Democratic Movement to "storm" it unless President Mwai Kibaki recalls legislators to discuss the cases. Two of those forbidden to leave the country are sons of Mwai's predecessor, Daniel arap Moi. Kibaki was elected on an anticorruption platform in 2002, but is accused of doing nothing to address the cases. One scandal, which began under Moi in the 1990s, involves the theft of $1 billion in public funds in a bogus scheme to export gold and diamonds. The other concerns the awarding of government contracts to companies that existed only on paper.
Iran joined the list of nations reporting confirmed cases of bird flu, announcing the deaths of 135 migratory swans from the H5N1 strain. But the national veterinary agency said "all bird products" processed for sale to consumers meet regulations set by the Health Ministry. Meanwhile, authorities in Nigeria identified five more states - bringing the total to eight - where cases of the H5N1 virus are suspected. But they also said workers on the poultry farm where the illness was first discovered have been reluctant to submit to health screenings.
