world

Sharon: Not all settlements stay

By Alyson Brodsy and Mark Lavie · Tuesday, Aug. 30,2005 12:47 a.m.

JERUSALEM -- Not all Israeli settlements in the West Bank will remain in place in a final peace accord with the Palestinians, but there will be no pullbacks comparable to this month's evacuations, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday.

Violence erupts following Israel's Gaza withdrawal

By Alyson Brodsy and Steven Gutkin · Tuesday, Aug. 30,2005 12:46 a.m.

JERUSALEM -- A lethal arrest raid, a suicide bombing, fresh land expropriations, a threatening Hamas video: So far, that's the follow-up to Israel's historic Gaza pullout. Rather than seize the moment to jump-start negotiations, Israelis and Palestinians appear to be falling into a familiar pattern of violence and rhetoric. Still, the withdrawal from Jewish settlements in Gaza is of such significance that even the latest spasms are unlikely to torpedo all momentum for peace.

Offshore rigs evacuated; energy market rattled

By Alyson Brodsy and Brad Foss · Tuesday, Aug. 30,2005 12:45 a.m.

WASHINGTON - Hurricane Katrina disrupted Gulf Coast petroleum output and rattled energy markets Monday, sending oil and natural gas prices soaring and setting the stage for a spike in the retail cost of gasoline. By the end of the day, more than 700 offshore platforms and rigs had been evacuated, two rigs had drifted away and authorities in Alabama were forced to close a bridge over the Mobile River after it was struck by a runaway platform. Oil futures briefly climbed above $70 a barrel for the first time.

Katrina batters New Orleans; oil prices soar

By Alyson Brodsy and Allen G. Breed · Tuesday, Aug. 30,2005 12:31 a.m.

NEW ORLEANS -- Gail Henke could think of no better way to celebrate the French Quarter's survival of Hurricane Katrina than to belly up to a bar on Bourbon Street with a vodka and cranberry juice. Call it a libation to the storm gods.

Hurricane Katrina plows into Gulf Coast but spares New Orleans its full fury

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, Aug. 29,2005 9:19 p.m.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Hurricane Katrina plowed into the Gulf Coast at daybreak Monday with shrieking, 145-mph winds and blinding rain, submerging entire neighborhoods up to the rooflines in New Orleans, hurling boats onto land and sending water pouring into Mississippi's strip of beachfront casinos. At least two highways deaths in Alabama were blamed on the storm, and an untold number of others were feared dead in flooded neighborhoods.

Drafting committee signs Iraq constitution

By Alyson Brodsy and Slobodan Lekic · Monday, Aug. 29,2005 1:32 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqi negotiators finished the country's new constitution Sunday without the endorsement of Sunni Arabs who helped prepare it, dealing a blow to the Bush administration and setting the stage for a bitter campaign leading up to an October referendum. The 15 members of the Sunni panel said they rejected the document because of disagreements over such issues as federalism, Iraq's identity and references to Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated Baath Party.

Report: Blair notified of Muslim extremists

By Alyson Brodsy and Matt Moore · Monday, Aug. 29,2005 1:31 a.m.

LONDON -- Prime Minister Tony Blair's office was warned more than a year before the London bombings that British involvement in Iraq was fueling Muslim extremism at home, a newspaper reported. The Observer published a leaked letter from Foreign Office Permanent Secretary Michael Jay to Cabinet Secretary Sir Andrew Turnbull from May 18, 2004, which said Britain's foreign policy in the Middle East was "a key driver" for the recruitment of extremists.

New Orleans braces as Hurricane Katrina intensifies off coast

By Alyson Brodsy and Allen G. Breed · Monday, Aug. 29,2005 1:30 a.m.

NEW ORLEANS -- Monstrous Hurricane Katrina barreled toward the Big Easy Sunday with 175-mph wind and a threat of a 28-foot storm surge, forcing a mandatory evacuation, a last-ditch Superdome shelter and prayers for those left to face the doomsday scenario this below-sea-level city has long dreaded. "Have God on your side, definitely have God on your side," Nancy Noble said as she sat with her puppy and three friends in six lanes of one-way traffic on gridlocked Interstate 10. "It's very frightening."

Militants threaten to attack on Israel

By Alyson Brodsy · Friday, Aug. 26,2005 12:12 a.m.

TULKAREM, West Bank -- Militants said Thursday they will renew attacks on Israel, despite a six-month cease-fire, after Israeli soldiers killed five Palestinians in a West Bank arrest raid. The killings and the threat of revenge ended a lull that accompanied Israel's just-completed withdrawal from 25 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

Storm triggers rise in world crude prices

By Alyson Brodsy · Friday, Aug. 26,2005 12:11 a.m.

BUDAPEST, Hungary -- Oil prices crept up to settle at a new high Thursday, taking their cue from a rally in gasoline futures contracts, but analysts said the momentum is somewhat bewildering given the easing of concerns about a storm expected to move into the Gulf of Mexico.

After 3rd deadlock, still no Iraq constitution

By Alyson Brodsy and Bassem Mroue · Friday, Aug. 26,2005 12:10 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The speaker of Iraq's Parliament announced a one-day extension early Friday in talks on Iraq's new constitution -- a fourth attempt to win Sunni Arab approval. But he said if no agreement is reached, the document would bypass parliament completely and be decided in an Oct. 15 referendum.

Chavez uses assassination call to bolster Venezuelan support

By Alyson Brodsy and Ian James · Thursday, Aug. 25,2005 1:14 a.m.

CARACAS, Venezuela -- A call by Pat Robertson for the United States to assassinate Hugo Chavez is playing into the Venezuelan leader's favor, putting him in the international limelight.

Tropical storm nearing Florida

By Alyson Brodsy and John Pain · Thursday, Aug. 25,2005 1:13 a.m.

MIAMI -- Tropical Storm Katrina threatened to dump more than a foot of rain on parts of water-logged Florida as it approached the state Wednesday, with forecasters expecting it to strengthen to a weak hurricane before hitting the coast.

Pentagon orders 1,500 troops to Iraq

By Alyson Brodsy and John J. Lumpkin · Thursday, Aug. 25,2005 1:12 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon has ordered 1,500 paratroopers to Iraq to provide security in advance of two upcoming national votes, the military announced Wednesday.

Iraqis want more time for constitution

By Alyson Brodsy and Sameer N. Yacoub · Wednesday, Aug. 24,2005 1:18 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The head of Iraq's constitutional committee said Tuesday he did not think the three additional days lawmakers said are needed to reach a compromise on the draft charter would be enough. The draft was submitted to parliament just minutes before a midnight deadline Monday by Kurds and Shiite Arabs on the committee drafting the charter. That last--minute scrambling came one week after the original Aug. 15 deadline.

Israel pulls out last Gaza settlements

By Alyson Brodsy and Ravi Nessman · Wednesday, Aug. 24,2005 1:16 a.m.

SANUR, West Bank -- Israeli forces armed with riot gear, saws and wire cutters evicted militant holdouts from two Jewish settlements Tuesday, completing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's historic withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a corner of the West Bank.

Venezuela slams Robertson's call for Chavez assassination Venezuela slams Robertson's call for Chavez

By Alyson Brodsy · Wednesday, Aug. 24,2005 1:15 a.m.

CARACAS,Venezuela -- Venezuela's vice president accused religious broadcaster Pat Robertson on Tuesday of making "terrorist statements" by suggesting that American agents assassinate President Hugo Chavez. Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said Venezuela was studying its legal options, adding that how Washington responds to Robertson's comments would put its anti-terrorism policy to the test.

Prosecutor may try residents who praised U.K. attacks

By Catherine McAloon · Sunday, Aug. 7,2005 10:59 p.m.

LONDON -- Islamic militants who have voiced support for the bloody July 7 terror bombings in London could face charges of treason, the Attorney General's Office said Sunday.

Activists hold vigil near Bush's ranch

By Deb Riechmann · Sunday, Aug. 7,2005 10:57 p.m.

CRAWFORD, Texas -- A determined mother of a fallen U.S. soldier who has pledged to hold a roadside peace protest near President Bush's ranch until he talks to her said Sunday that she met with the president shortly after her son died.

All 7 Russian sailors saved from stranded sub

By Vladmir Isachenkov · Sunday, Aug. 7,2005 10:56 p.m.

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, Russia -- Seven people on a submarine trapped for nearly three days under the Pacific Ocean were rescued Sunday after a British remote-controlled vehicle cut away undersea cables that had snarled their vessel, allowing it to surface.