World

As the US and Britain pressured the UN Security Council to get on with consideration of their new draft resolution on disarming Iraq, the latter sent out a senior official to condemn it as "a declaration of war." White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told journalists, "The UN does not have forever." But Iraqi Culture Minister Hamed Yusef Hamadi predicted the resolution would not pass because "President Bush wants to use the UN as a tool to attack Iraq, but this tool does not want to play his game."

New economic sanctions against communist North Korea because of its nuclear weapons program were ruled out by rival South Korea's president. Kim Dae-jung also said he opposed setting a deadline for a clear-cut response by the North to urgings that it end the nuclear program. He spoke after representatives of both Koreas agreed early Wednesday to try to "resolve all the issues" about that program through dialogue.

Army units were on special alert in Venezuela after 14 dissident senior officers publicly denounced leftist President Hugo Chávez and called for a public revolt against him. But Chávez's office insisted the nation was calm and that he had the full backing of the military. The dissident officers already await court-martial for their alleged roles in the April coup that briefly ousted Chávez. Above, supporters greet Adm. Daniel Comisso Urdaneta as he arrives for the protest in Caracas.

Police circulated sketches of "possible suspects" in the Oct. 12 terrorist bombings on the tourist island of Bali, and guards were reinforced around vital industrial projects in Indo-nesia amid warnings that new attacks there may be imminent. But the police were still being kept waiting to question hospitalized cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, leader of the radical Jemaah Islamiyah movement. He isn't considered a suspect in the Bali attacks, but the group reportedly has stockpiled agricultural chemicals of the type used in them.

The extent of voter participation in Thursday's historic election for a new parliament in Bahrain appeared in doubt after tens of thousands of people turned out Tuesday night for a pro-boycott rally. Parties are banned, but four of the oil state's informal political groups have vowed to sit out the balloting because a council appointed by King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa already has powers equal to those the legislature will have. Bahrain has been without a parliament since 1973.