World
The "international community" agrees than Iran should not have nuclear weapons, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in London, wrapping up a meeting with foreign ministers of other UN Security Council member governments. She said Iran "must suspend its nuclear activities and go back to negotiations." As she spoke, Iranian representatives outlined proposals before the European Union members with whom they've been negotiating to try to end the diplomatic standoff over their nuclear ambitions. But Britain's delegate said, "We didn't hear anything that we hadn't heard already." In an apparent effort to relieve pressure for a referral to the UN Security Council when the International Atomic Energy Agency meets Thursday in Vienna, Iran allowed IAEA inspectors to see equipment from a former research laboratory over the weekend, but a report on their findings will not be available for some time.
Saddam Hussein and his lawyers intend to boycott the next session of his trial on war-crimes charges in Baghdad, one of them said. The trial, recessed Sunday after Hussein and other defendants refused to be quiet, is scheduled to resume Wednesday. Khalil al-Dulaimi, who heads the defense team, accused the tribunal's new chief justice of bias against his client. Justice Raouf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman appointed new lawyers to represent the ex-dictator, but al- Dulaimi called that move "illegal" and said Hussein has rejected them.
An American oil company employee and three co-workers were released unharmed Monday after being held hostage since Jan. 11 by militants in Nigeria. Patrick Landry and a Honduran, a Briton, and a Bulgarian were seized at gunpoint in a raid on an offshore rig owned by Royal Dutch/Shell. The Movement for the Emancipation of the People of the Niger Delta said they'd only be freed in return for the release from prison of two Ijaw tribal leaders and payment of $1.5 billion by Shell to compensate for damage to the environment. Neither condition was met, reports said, although the militants claimed to have received $700,000 in ransom. Acts of militancy in the delta have cut oil production by about 10 percent. On Sunday, gunmen raided a South Korean-owned oilfield services company and stole more than $300,000.
Tools used to sabotage a main rail line were found at the scene where a packed passenger train jumped the tracks in eastern Pakistan, killing at least four people and injuring 94 others. The was no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident on the Rawalpindi-Lahore line, and authorities wouldn't speculate about who removed steel plates that bind the rails to wooden ties underneath. Such sabotage is common further west in restive Baluchistan Province and usually is blamed on dissident tribesmen. But the derailment Sunday night took place in relatively calm Punjab Province.
The last five men trapped by fire in a huge Canadian potash mine were brought to the surface Monday. Sixty-seven others had been rescued earlier after spending 24 hours in "refuge rooms" where there were stockpiles of oxygen, blankets, food, and water. Emergency crews were delayed in reaching them until the mine, 130 miles northeast of Regina, Saskatchewan, could be cleared of smoke and gases. Potash is chiefly used in the production of fertilizer.
Leftist President Tarja Halonen of Finland accepted congratulations on her narrow reelection victory in a runoff Sunday against ex-Finance Minister Sauli Niinisto. She'd been expected to win easily, but the margin was 51.8 percent to 48.2 percent.
