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Briefs

Postearthquake winter claims its first life

By wire services
Published November 29, 2005

BAGH, Pakistan - The baby boy survived the devastating earthquake in the Himalayan highlands. Then came the cold and the snow.

On Monday, the 3-month-old became the first reported victim of what officials fear will be a new disaster for the 3.5-million people who lost their homes: winter.

Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva, said the relief effort remains underfunded and that, according to the Pakistani military, at least 300,000 people remain inaccessible in remote Himalayan regions. None have tents, she said.

Troops and aid workers are building shelters as fast as they can. But with heavy rains and snow heralding the onset of the region's harsh winter, it is not fast enough for many surviving victims of the Oct. 8 earthquake, which killed more than 87,000 people.

Of the 500,000 tents the United Nations purchased and stockpiled for quake relief, about 165,000 have yet to be delivered, Byrs said.

Stoves and corrugated iron sheeting also are urgently required, as many tents are not winterized, Byrs said. So far, the U.N. has received $216-million in emergency relief funds, only 39 percent of its appeal for $550-million.

The baby, Waqar Mukhtar, died of pneumonia, said Dr. Abdul Hamid. More than 100 people were brought to hospitals with hypothermia and respiratory diseases.

Blair says he knew of no plan to bomb Al-Jazeera

LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair said Monday he had no information suggesting the United States planned to bomb Al-Jazeera television network.

The Daily Mirror last week published a document it said was a transcript of an April 2004 meeting between Blair and President Bush in which Bush spoke of attacking Al-Jazeera's headquarters in Qatar.

The newspaper, citing unidentified officials, said Blair argued against an attack. It quoted officials as disagreeing about whether Bush's alleged comment was a joke or was meant seriously.

A White House spokesman last week called the claims "outlandish and inconceivable."

Lawmaker Adam Price asked Blair in a written question made public Monday "what information you received on action that the United States administration proposed to take against the Al-Jazeera television channel."

Blair replied, "None."

Elsewhere ...

CHINA: The Bush administration determined Monday that China was not manipulating its currency to gain economic advantages, but it still pressed the Chinese to move more quickly to allow the yuan's value to be set by market forces. Critics contend that Chinese currency practices play a large role in America's soaring trade deficit.

VENEZUELA: Spain agreed Monday to sell 12 military planes and eight patrol boats to Venezuela in a $2-billion deal that the United States has threatened to block. The State Department repeated reservations about the sale because the planes and boats carry U.S. parts and technology, but Spanish Defense Minister Jose Bono joined Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez in saying the sale should not concern Washington.

HONDURAS: Manuel Zelaya, a wealthy landowner who promised to battle government corruption and push for life sentences for violent criminals, was declared Honduras' president-elect Monday. His opponent from the ruling party, Porfirio Lobo Sosa, refused to concede, saying the votes had not yet been counted in full.

AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan's government said Monday the U.S. military has been "very lenient" in punishing American soldiers for burning the bodies of two Taliban rebels in an incident caught on camera. The U.S. military said Saturday that four soldiers would face disciplinary action but not criminal charges since their actions were motivated by hygienic concerns.

GAZA STRIP: The ruling Fatah Party canceled its primary in Gaza at the end of a full day of voting Monday after gunmen disrupted at least a dozen polling places, firing in the air and stealing some ballot boxes.

[Last modified November 29, 2005, 14:53:18]