world

Iran warns off attack on nuke facilities

By Alyson Brodsy and Ali Akbar Dareini · Friday, Feb. 18,2005 12:50 a.m.

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran warned that any strike on its nuclear facilities would draw a swift and crushing response and called Thursday for an expansion of its newly emerging strategic alliance with Syria to create a powerful united Islamic front that could confront Washington and Israel.

Congress called upon for Social Security suggestions

By Alyson Brodsy and Jeannine Aversa · Thursday, Feb. 17,2005 11:08 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush appealed to members of Congress to make suggestions of their own for changing Social Security on Thursday, and said they need not fear political retribution. "It used to be in the past people would step up and say, 'Well, here's an interesting idea,'" Bush said at a news conference at the White House. "Then they would take that idea and clobber the person politically."

Class action suits to be heard in federal court

By Alyson Brodsy and Jesse J. Holland · Thursday, Feb. 17,2005 11:07 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- Congress on Thursday passed legislation that would transfer most large, multi-state class-action lawsuits to federal court, fulfilling one of President Bush's second-term goals.

Bush: Syria 'out of step' with world

By Alyson Brodsy and Terence Hunt · Thursday, Feb. 17,2005 11:06 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Thursday said Syria is "out of step" with other nations in the Middle East and that the United States will work with other countries to pressure Damascus to remove its troops from Lebanon.

Electoral commission certifies Iraq election results; Shiites take 140 seats

By Alyson Brodsy and Maggie Michael · Thursday, Feb. 17,2005 11:06 p.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's electoral commission Thursday certified the results of the Jan. 30 elections and allocated 140 National Assembly seats to the United Iraqi Alliance, giving the Shiite-dominated party a majority in the new parliament.

Bush names Negroponte as 1st national intelligence director

By Alyson Brodsy and Katherine Shrader · Thursday, Feb. 17,2005 11:05 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Thursday named John Negroponte, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and currently the administration's top representative in Iraq, to be America's first national intelligence director.

CIA director: al-Qaida attack 'matter of time'

By Alyson Brodsy and Katherine Shrader · Thursday, Feb. 17,2005 12:49 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Groups associated with al-Qaida are at the top of the list of threats to the United States, leading government intelligence officials said Wednesday, saying Iran has emerged as a top threat to American interests in the Middle East.

Secret ballot could reveal new Iraq PM

By Alyson Brodsy and Maggie Michael · Wednesday, Feb. 16,2005 10:58 p.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Leaders of the Shiite political alliance that won Iraq's election failed to agree on a single nominee for prime minister Wednesday, with the two candidates insisting on a vote by the alliance's 140 parliamentarians, officials said.

Former priest sentenced to 12 to 15 years for rape

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Feb. 15,2005 11:28 p.m.

BOSTON -- Defrocked priest Paul Shanley, a central figure in the Boston Archdiocese clergy sex abuse scandal, was sentenced Tuesday to 12 to 15 years in prison for raping a boy repeatedly in the 1980s, sometimes in a church confessional.

Ambassador to Syria withdrawn

By Alyson Brodsy and Barry Schweid · Tuesday, Feb. 15,2005 11:26 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- The United States has recalled its ambassador to Syria amid rising tensions over the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri of Lebanon.

The Aceh province -- and future plans

By Rick Newkirk · Tuesday, Feb. 15,2005 1:17 a.m.

Indiana Daily Student reporter Rick Newkirk conducted several interviews with IU-Purdue University Indianapolis Director of the Center on Southeast Asia Dave Jones, who recently returned from a trip to Thailand and Indonesia. *** During the first full week of January, Dave's colleague Patrick O'Meara received an honorary degree from Princess Sirindhorn of Thailand, and Dave visited a tiny, poor neighborhood in Bangkok. He departed Thailand Jan. 9 and spent the rest of the week in Indonesia, the country hit hardest by the tsunami.

Hillel center hosts expedition team spreading Mideast peace

By Janet Hamilton · Monday, Feb. 14,2005 11:22 p.m.

Antarctica seems but a dream to most people, a snowy mirage that's a world away. For four Israelis and four Palestinians, Antarctica was a trying terrain where the dream of peace in the Middle East could begin. Monday night, two members of this group of eight travelers, the "Breaking the Ice" team, spoke to IU students and community members about their expedition to prove that Israelis and Palestinians could work together.

Particles

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, Feb. 14,2005 11:11 p.m.

INDIANAPOLIS -- IU Life Sciences may have found the Band Aid of the future. In light of a $1 million donation from the U.S. Department of Defense in January, the Indiana Center for Rehabilitation Sciences & Engineering Research is able to focus more time and money toward the development of a new product that may help future injured solders to heal faster.

Shiite, Kurd tickets take Iraq elections

By Alyson Brodsy and Robert H. Reid · Monday, Feb. 14,2005 1:05 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Clergy-backed Shiites and independence-minded Kurds swept to victory in Iraq's landmark elections, propelling to power the groups that suffered most under Saddam Hussein and forcing Sunni Arabs to the margins for the first time in modern history, according to final results released Sunday.

Pom Mahakan and the Day of the Child

By Rick Newkirk · Monday, Feb. 14,2005 12:27 a.m.

Indiana Daily Student reporter Rick Newkirk conducted several interviews with IU-Purdue University Indianapolis International Affairs administrators Susan Sutton and Dave Jones, who recently returned from a trip to Thailand.

Practice makes prepared soldiers

By Janet Hamilton · Monday, Feb. 14,2005 12:08 a.m.

Two dozen Iraqis stand outside a gate guarded by a single unit of the U.S. Army, shouting curses and making violent gestures. People from the mob need medical attention, and a CNN crew is capturing it all on video.

Sharon approves prisoners' release

By Alyson Brodsy and Josef Federman · Sunday, Feb. 13,2005 11:23 p.m.

JERUSALEM -- Responding to threats against government ministers, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered law enforcement agencies Sunday to crack down on Jewish extremists opposed to the planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Iran to go ahead with nuclear reactor plan

By Alyson Brodsy and Ali Akbar Dareini · Sunday, Feb. 13,2005 11:21 p.m.

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran rejected a European demand to stop building a heavy water nuclear reactor in return for a light-water reactor Sunday, hardening Iran's position on a key part of its nuclear facilities that critics claim is part of a weapons program.

North Korea claims nuclear arms program

By Alyson Brodsy · Friday, Feb. 11,2005 1:03 a.m.

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea announced for the first time Thursday it has nuclear weapons, and it rejected moves to restart disarmament talks anytime soon, saying the bombs are protection against an increasingly hostile United States.

Recovered pope released from hospital

By Alyson Brodsy and William J. Kole · Thursday, Feb. 10,2005 11:46 p.m.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II left a Rome hospital in his white popemobile Thursday, 10 days after suffering breathing spasms that left him bedridden and rekindled debate about his ability to continue leading the Roman Catholic Church.