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World in brief

Iraqi lawmakers meet, quarrel and adjourn

By wire services
Published March 30, 2005

BAGHDAD - Iraq's new National Assembly was 10 minutes into its second session Tuesday when members became mired in a shouting match that caused leaders to close the gathering to the media. The meeting broke up after an hour with no progress toward forming a government.

The Sunni Arab minority - dominant under former dictator Saddam Hussein and believed to be the backbone of the insurgency - was given until Sunday to come up with a candidate to serve as speaker of the 275-seat Parliament.

President Bush said the differences "will be resolved through debate and persuasion instead of force and intimidation."

The National Assembly still needs to name a president and two deputies, who will in turn nominate a prime minister.

WASHINGTON - Laura Bush says she has been waiting a long time to tell the women of Afghanistan that American women stand with them.

The first lady was to be in the country for about five hours today, time to visit women who are training to be teachers and others who have made a business of selling handicrafts. She was also to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and have dinner with U.S. troops stationed at Bagram Air Base north of Kabul.

Her trip was kept secret until just before she left Tuesday from Andrews Air Force Base near Washington.

VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II may have to return to the hospital to have a feeding tube inserted because he is having difficulty swallowing, an Italian news agency reported Tuesday.

The APcom news agency said no decision had been taken and the feeding tube was one option being considered to help the 84-year-old pope get better nutrition and regain his strength. If the procedure is performed, the pope would be receiving nutrition the same way Terri Schiavo did before her feeding tube was removed.

Calls to the Vatican spokesman went unanswered late Tuesday.

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan - Ousted President Askar Akayev surfaced in Russia after fleeing this Central Asian nation and said Tuesday he would resign if given legal protections - the first sign he is willing to yield power.

Akayev, who fled after protesters seized government headquarters last week, also accused his foes of plotting his overthrow for months. Interim leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev said the storming of the government headquarters was never planned, and he called for an official inquiry.

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon announced Tuesday that military tribunals have determined that 38 out of 558 detainees at Guantanamo Bay were not "enemy combatants" and ordered them released from the isolated Navy base in Cuba without compensation.

The military said that the rest of the detainees have now had their chance to make the case that they are innocent, and that it believes it has complied with a landmark 2004 Supreme Court order to give Guantanamo detainees a fair chance to challenge the basis for their indefinite incarceration without trial.

JERUSALEM - Israel's Parliament on Tuesday easily approved the long-overdue 2005 state budget, meaning Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government can no longer be brought down by opponents of a Gaza withdrawal set for this summer.

After Sharon secured a majority by pledging hundreds of millions of dollars in special spending to three parties to secure their votes, the Parliament approved the budget 58-36 with one abstention.

Failure to pass a budget by Thursday would have forced Sharon to resign. Settler leaders say they will now take their battle against the pullout to the streets, threatening mass protests and even civil war.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanon's pro-Syrian prime minister said Tuesday that he would resign, unable to put together a government, and the head of military intelligence stepped aside in new signs the anti-Syrian opposition was gaining momentum in the country's political turmoil.

Prime Minister Omar Karami's decision comes amid a deadlock over forming the government, which must be completed before parliamentary elections can be held in April and May.

[Last modified March 30, 2005, 01:04:14]