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Israel briefly opens border crossing

By wire services
Published March 21, 2006

JERUSALEM - Israel reopened the main freight crossing to the Gaza Strip on Monday to allow delivery of flour and sugar to the Palestinians. But it abruptly closed the crossing after just a half-hour, citing security threats.

Israel has kept the Karni crossing shut for most of the past two months, saying it has intelligence that Palestinians are planning to attack the goods terminal, which has often been a target.

But with Gaza's food stocks running low, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Richard Jones, arranged for talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians on Sunday night, and Israel agreed to allow food supplies into Gaza on Monday.

"The shortage of basic foodstuffs was weighed against the terror threat, and the logical decision to open it for a limited amount of time was made with the hope the Palestinians will uphold their commitments," Amos Gilad, a Defense Ministry official, told Israel Radio.

But shortly after he spoke, Karni was again closed. The military said there were security alerts but did not provide details.

Gaza's economy is hugely dependent on the crossing for all its imports and exports. The Palestinians have not been permitted to build a port, reopen the Gaza airport or trade directly with Egypt.

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan - Turkmenistan's autocratic leader told his nation's youth to read his book three times a day in order to go to heaven, Turkmen television reported Monday.

President Saparmurad Niyazov said at a concert to celebrate a national spring holiday that young people should read Rukhnama, a book that dispenses moral and spiritual guidelines for the country's citizens.

"A person that reads Rukhnama becomes smart ... and after it, he will go straight to heaven," Niyazov said. "I asked Allah that for a person who reads it three times - at home, at sunset and at dawn - to go straight to heaven."

Rukhnama has been deemed a sacred text by the government. It is required reading for every child in school.

FREDERIKSTED, U.S. Virgin Islands - A 1,500-pound colonial-era cannon was stolen from a museum in the U.S. Virgin Islands, officials said Monday.

The cannon was on display near the waterfront of the Fort Frederik Museum on St. Croix, said Jamal Nielsen, a spokesman for the Department of Planning and Natural Resources, which oversees the museum.

Authorities believe the cannon was pried from its carriage with wooden planks and was then probably hoisted onto a flatbed truck with a winch.

The cannon could fetch as much as $40,000 on the stolen antiquities market, Nielsen said.

SEOUL, South Korea - The scientist who stunned the medical world with claims he created the first cloned human embryos and extracted stem cells from them - research later found to have been faked - was fired Monday by South Korea's most prestigious university.

Seoul National University decided to dismiss Hwang Woo Suk after a disciplinary meeting, saying he and his co-workers caused the school to lose honor. Six other professors who worked with Hwang were either suspended or had their salaries cut, the school said.

Hwang, 53, could not be reached for comment.

The scientist had claimed in two papers published in the journal Science in 2004 and 2005 that he created the world's first cloned human embryos and extracted stem cells from them, raising hopes of finding new cures for diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

The journal has since retracted both articles.

[Last modified March 21, 2006, 02:30:40]