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Briefs: NATO expansion needs to wait til
'08, U.S. says |
The New York Times, The
Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse
FRIDAY,
SEPTEMBER 9, 2005
| BRUSSELS The United States has told
NATO allies any further expansion of the alliance should wait until
at least 2008, officials said Thursday.
The decision is a
disappointment for Croatia, Macedonia and Albania, which hope to
join the alliance.
A U.S. official for
European and Eurasian affairs said he did not think the candidate
countries "are ready yet." The official, Kurt Volker, refused to
rule out that Ukraine could be included with the Balkan nations in
any future expansion. (AP)
PARIS
October strike plans
could affect electricity
The leading union in
France has called for cuts in electricity production as part of a
strike Oct. 4 to protest government policy, an official from the CGT
said Thursday.
The CGT, which on
Tuesday called for the protests to defend jobs and household
purchasing power, was also protesting the government's plan to go
ahead with the sale of Électricité de France in October. (Reuters)
LONDON
Police officers to shift
to on-foot, solo tactics
More London police
officers will soon be walking the beat in an effort to fight crime
and prevent terrorism, officials announced Thursday.
Police officers will be
encouraged to patrol alone as they did decades ago, rather than in
pairs as they do now, to make them more approachable.
The city will be divided
into 624 neighborhood wards, with officers expected to be well
acquainted with their areas. Several thousand officers will be
shifted from bureaucratic tasks to foot patrols, Commissioner Ian
Blair said of the plan, which was in the works before the terrorist
bombings of July 7. (Reuters)
AUSTIN, Texas
2 Texas groups charged
A grand jury has
indicted a political action committee formed by Tom Delay, the U.S.
House majority leader, and a Texas business group in connection with
2002 legislative campaign contributions.
The five felony
indictments - one against Texans for a Republican Majority and four
against the Texas Association of Business - were made public
Thursday. Neither DeLay nor any individuals with the business group
has been charged with any wrongdoing. (AP)
GAZA
Israelis kill
fence-cutter
Israeli troops on
Thursday shot and killed one Palestinian and wounded another after
the two cut through a fence at an evacuated Jewish settlement in the
southern Gaza Strip, the Israeli military and Palestinian medics
said.
Soldiers patrolling in
the settlement of Atzmona came under fire from Palestinian gunmen,
the military said, and a short time later, the Palestinians cut the
fence and crawled into the settlement. The soldiers then opened
fire, the military said. The dead man was identified as Bashir Sufi,
18, Agence France-Presse reported. (NYT)
COLOMBO
Rush to exit plane kills
1
One passenger was killed
and dozens were injured Thursday in a stampede to evacuate a Saudi
Air plane after a bomb threat was phoned in to Sri Lanka's only
international airport, air force and hospital officials said.
The passenger who died,
a woman clad in a traditional Muslim gown and head scarf, hit her
head on the tarmac after sliding down an escape chute, officials
said. The authorities said the threat was a hoax.(AP)
COPENHAGEN: The police
on Thursday arrested a Moroccan-born Danish citizen accused of
distributing video films and computer discs that promote terrorism.
Said Mansour, 45, faces a preliminary charge of instigating
terrorism, a police spokesman said. Mansour was arrested after a
yearlong investigation during which the police seized films and
computer discs Mansour was selling at a flea market in Copenhagen,
the spokesman said. (AP)
GENEVA: An earthquake
with a magnitude of 4.6 struck eastern France, rescue workers said
Thursday. The epicenter was near the junction of the French, Swiss
and Italian borders; two other minor earthquakes were also reported
in the Alpine region. (AFP)
WASHINGTON: A U.S. grand
jury has indicted Vladimir Arutinian of Georgia on charges of
attempting to assassinate President George W. Bush. Arutinian, 27,
allegedly threw a grenade into a crowd during Bush's visit in May to
Tbilisi. (Reuters)
BELGRADE: Prvoslav
Davinic, the defense minister of Serbia-Montenegro, who is accused
of squandering state funds for military purchases, announced his
resignation Thursday. (AP)
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