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World in brief
Compiled from Times wires Israeli missile kills 2 militantsJERUSALEM -- An Israeli aircraft fired a missile into a house in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank late Tuesday, killing two senior Palestinian militants wanted by Israeli security services, Palestinians said. Witnesses identified the two as Alaa Amhad Sabbagh, 21, head of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in Jenin, and Imad Farouq Masharqi, 26, local commander of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas. Both organizations have carried out numerous suicide bombings against Israeli civilians during the 2-year-old Palestinian uprising. No one else was killed or injured in the attack, witnesses said. ISRAEL SEEKS AID: Israel is asking the Bush administration for about $4-billion in new military aid and $8-billion to $10-billion in loan guarantees to bolster its economy, U.S. officials said Tuesday. Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. loans and grants. Fertility doctor claims cloned baby is on the wayROME -- An Italian fertility doctor who has claimed that several women are carrying cloned babies said Tuesday that one of the children would be born in early January. But as with earlier statements, he again offered no evidence. Dr. Severino Antinori said that a woman was about eight months pregnant with a cloned baby boy and that the child was developing in an "absolutely healthy" way. Antinori refused to identify the woman or give her nationality. When asked where she was going to give birth he said only "countries where this is permitted." Experts have repeatedly dismissed Antiniori's claims and say they doubt that he is capable of achieving a cloned pregnancy. Spain, France impose tougher rules on tankersMALAGA, Spain -- Spain and France said Tuesday they would impose exhaustive safety checks on all single-hull oil tankers more than 15 years old that enter their waters, in a bid to avert a repetition of the Prestige tanker disaster. Any ships deemed dangerous will be expelled from the nations' waters, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said in a news conference with French President Jacques Chirac. The controls begin today. Chirac and Aznar said that all suspect tankers within the country's exclusive economic zones, which stretch about 230 miles from the coast, will be checked. The 26-year-old single-hull Prestige sprung a leak Nov. 13. Six days later, the vessel split in two and sank, taking most of its 20-million gallons of fuel oil to the ocean floor. On Tuesday, the Spanish government revised its figures for size of the Prestige's spill, raising it from 2.9-million gallons to 4.5-million gallons. Flu outbreak kills more than 500 in CongoKINSHASA, Congo -- The World Health Organization on Tuesday reported an outbreak of flu in rebel-controlled northern Congo, and the country's health minister said more than 500 people have died. WHO officials in the capital could not say how many people had been infected or killed. It was not immediately clear what strain of flu was involved. A team was sent to the region last week to investigate. The illness was apparently spread by people fleeing an Oct. 25 coup attempt in Central African Republic. East Timor bishop resigns, citing poor healthDILI, East Timor -- Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, whose resistance to Indonesia's bloody occupation of East Timor earned him a Nobel Peace Prize, resigned Tuesday, citing poor health. Belo is a spiritual icon in the largely Roman Catholic nation of 800,000 people whose faith was seen as a key part of their struggle for independence. "I am suffering from both physical and mental fatigue that will require a long period of recuperation," the 54-year-old bishop said in announcing his resignation. Last week, Belo returned from a three-month stay in Portugal where he underwent undisclosed medical treatment.
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
