World in brief

Annan calls for 6,700-troop force in Haiti

UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Tuesday for a broad new U.N. mission in Haiti that would include 6,700 troops and more than 1,600 international police and experts to help turn the Caribbean nation into "a functioning democracy."

The U.N. military contingent would replace the 3,600-strong U.S.-led multinational force sent to bring stability to Haiti after a three-week rebellion led Haiti's first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to flee in February.

Annan said the transfer of authority from the multinational force to a U.N. force would take place by June 1, with troops in the multinational force withdrawing on a phased basis as U.N. troops arrived "to avoid any security gap."

Annan proposed the council authorize the new mission, to be called the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti, for an initial period of 24 months.

In Haiti Tuesday, police fired tear gas and U.S. Marines blocked the entrance of the police academy in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince as hundreds of candidates stormed the building during a recruiting drive.

The police used batons to beat back recruits and called off the recruiting drive after several people reportedly were injured in the incident.

MADRID, Spain - At least five prime suspects in the March 11 Madrid bombings were among the seven alleged terrorists who blew themselves up as police moved to arrest them this month, officials close to the investigation said Tuesday.

The latest forensic tests show that suspects Mohammed Oulad Akcha and his brother Rachid Oulad Akcha were killed in the suicide blast, the officials told the Associated Press. Only one of the seven people killed in the blast remains unidentified.

With the Akcha brothers dead, only one of the six suspects thought to be directly responsible for the attacks is unaccounted for, said the officials. But news reports say police believe the final suspect, Said Berraj, might be the seventh person killed in the April 3 suicide blast in the Madrid district of Leganes.

JAKARTA, Indonesia - A general who faces a U.N. indictment for crimes against humanity and is partly responsible for a U.S. congressional ban on military ties with Jakarta was nominated Wednesday as presidential candidate of the party of ex-dictator Suharto.

Gen. Wiranto, who uses only one name, rose through the ranks of army to become military chief under Suharto. The United Nations allege that as military chief, Wiranto did not stop his Indonesian soldiers and their proxy militias from killing nearly 1,500 people in a U.N.-sponsored independence referendum in 1999.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia has denied accusations it has an agreement with the White House to increase oil production closer to the Nov. 2 election, thus driving down gasoline prices.

"The allegation that the kingdom is manipulating the price of oil for political purposes or to affect elections is erroneous and has no basis in fact," said a statement issued in Riyadh by top Saudi foreign policy adviser Adel al-Jubeir.

CBS's 60 Minutes reported Sunday night that Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward said Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to Washington, promised Bush that Saudi Arabia will lower oil prices in the months before the election.

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