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Report says Hezbollah used civilians in war

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published December 6, 2006

ISRAEL - An Israeli think tank with links to the military released videos and testimony Tuesday it said proved Hezbollah guerrillas used civilians as human shields during last summer's war in Lebanon.

The report's authors hoped to challenge allegations that Israel committed war crimes when it attacked residential areas during the war. The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center compiled the report.

Although no formal war crimes charges have been filed against either side, Israel has taken the brunt of criticism.

Oaxaca protest leader is arrested in capital

MEXICO - Police arrested the symbolic leader of a six-month protest movement that took over the southern city of Oaxaca and left at least nine people dead.

Flavio Sosa was arrested late Monday in Mexico City on charges related to the barricades, vandalism and irregular detentions carried out by some protesters.

Prosecutor seeks to charge Americans

ITALY - An Italian prosecutor on Tuesday requested the indictment of 26 Americans and five Italian secret service officials in the 2003 kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric in Milan.

Prosecutor Armando Spataro said the indictment request is aimed at CIA agents and the former head of Italian military intelligence, Nicolo Pollari, for alleged involvement in the kidnapping.

Elsewhere

IRAN: The country, whose president has described the Holocaust as a "myth," said Tuesday it will hold a two-day conference next week to discuss the evidence that the Nazis committed genocide against the Jews in World War II.

CHILE: Former dictator Augusto Pinochet's condition following a heart attack on Sunday is no longer life-threatening, his doctors said Tuesday.

Progress reported in talks on Iran

Six world powers made "substantive progress" but failed to reach an accord Tuesday on a U.N. resolution to punish Iran for defying demands to halt its nuclear program, the French Foreign Ministry said after talks in Paris.

The talks brought together diplomats from the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia - the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - as well as Germany and a representative of the foreign policy chief of the European Union.

After months of diplomatic wrangling, the United States and France had hoped Tuesday's talks would produce a resolution imposing sanctions on Iran for defying an Aug. 31 U.N. deadline to halt uranium enrichment. Western powers accuse Iran of seeking nuclear bombs, while Tehran insists it only wants nuclear energy.

On Tuesday, Iran made a new threat of retaliation if the powers opted for sanctions.

[Last modified December 6, 2006, 02:06:57]