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Envoy says U.S. seeks gains with N. Korea

By TIMES WIRES
Published July 17, 2007

SOUTH KOREA - The United States is looking to build on momentum created by North Korea shutting down its nuclear reactor and will start deliberations on removing the regime from a list of terrorism-sponsoring states, the main U.S. envoy on the issue said Monday. In an interview with the Associated Press, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill laid out a busy agenda for steps Washington hopes can be made in the reconciliation process as Pyongyang lays aside its nuclear weapons program. Among them, he said, are negotiations on a permanent peace treaty to replace the 54-year-old cease-fire that halted the Korean War and talks on setting up a regional security forum in northeast Asia.

Government tries to keep peace deal

PAKISTAN - The government on Monday dispatched a team of tribal elders to meet with leaders of militant groups in Pakistan's tribal region to salvage a peace deal that unraveled after last week's siege of the Red Mosque. The already fractious North-West Frontier Province tribal region was beset by bombings and suicide attacks over the weekend by militants angered by the assault on the mosque. The death toll exceeded 70, nearly as many as the government said had been killed at the Red Mosque in Islamabad. Taliban leaders called off the truce over the weekend, after President Pervez Musharraf deployed troops to the region.

Teenager loses bid on chastity ring

BRITAIN - A teenage girl banned from wearing a chastity ring in class lost a legal challenge Monday against her former school. Lydia Playfoot, 16, had argued that the ban at the Millais School in Horsham, about 40 miles south of London, was an "unlawful interference" with her right to express her Christian faith. But High Court Deputy Judge Michael Supperstone supported her school's contention that the ring was not an integral part of the Christian faith.

Sacred bull avoids death

A judge on Monday granted a reprieve to a sacred bull at a Hindu monastery in Wales threatened with slaughter because he is suspected of carrying bovine tuberculosis. Local regulations stipulate that cattle suspected of carrying tuberculosis be slaughtered. High Court Judge Gary Hickinbottom said there was little doubt Shambo carried the disease but ordered authorities to reconsider its decision in light of whether killing the bull would be proportional to the risk he poses. He said animals have previously been cured of the disease.

Elsewhere

Libya: Libya's highest judicial authority on Monday postponed a decision in the case of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor facing death sentences on charges of infecting hundreds of children with the AIDS virus. The Supreme Judiciary Council will review the case today and decide whether to approve or reject the convictions or set lighter sentences, an official said.

United Nations: Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon urged the Security Council on Monday to vote quickly on a resolution putting Kosovo on the path to independence, but the council subsequently ended a meeting on the matter deadlocked over objections from Russia.

Venezuela: An opposition TV station forced off the air by President Hugo Chavez, Radio Caracas Television, began broadcasting on cable and satellite Monday.

[Last modified July 17, 2007, 00:32:06]