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By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published October 20, 2006

GEORGETOWN, Guyana

Venezuela should stop bid for U.N. seat, says u.s.

Venezuela should drop its bid for a seat on the U.N. Security Council since it has failed to get enough votes to beat Guatemala - the U.S. backed-candidate - an American official said Thursday.

Neither country has won a two-thirds majority in the 192-nation General Assembly to win the nonpermanent seat reserved for Latin American and Caribbean nations.

"There is a tradition in the U.N. when two countries are in this situation for the one who is behind consistently to concede," John F. Maisto, the U.S. permanent representative to the Organization of American States, said while visiting Guyana.

Jerusalem

Be afraid, Israeli leader warns Iran

Israel's prime minister delivered his strongest comments yet on Iran's nuclear program, warning Thursday that Tehran would have "a price to pay" if it does not back down from its atomic ambitions and hinting that Israel might be forced to take action. Ehud Olmert did not specifically threaten to cripple Iran's nuclear program in a military strike, as it did 25 years ago in Iraq when it bombed an unfinished nuclear reactor there. But he repeated what he said a day earlier after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow - the Iranians "have to be afraid" of the consequences.

Elsewhere ...

MEXICO: Mexico's Senate ruled Thursday there was no reason to oust Oaxaca's embattled state governor, eliminating the last legal recourse for thousands of protesters who for months have demanded the resignation of Gov. Ulises Ruiz. By a 74-31 vote, the Senate found that the state government had not ceased to function, even though officials have been chased out of the capital city for five months.

AFGHANISTAN: A suicide bomber killed two children and a British soldier in southern Afghanistan on Thursday and President Hamid Karzai called on NATO forces to use caution, a day after 20 civilians were killed.

CANADA: The Ontario Superior Court struck down sections of a Canadian antiterrorism law Thursday, in a ruling that threw out warrants used to search the home of a reporter for the Ottawa Citizen covering U.S. efforts to secretly send a Canadian terror suspect to Syria.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong lawmakers passed a controversial bill Thursday that would ban smoking in places from restaurants to beaches and parks, starting next year. Lawmakers voted after a 12-hour marathon debate.

Associated Press

[Last modified October 20, 2006, 05:56:42]