Russian Resupply Craft Heads for Space Station
MOSCOW -- A Russian spaceship blasted off Friday carrying vital food and water to two astronauts at the international space station. Their supplies have been rationed because they were running so low.
Russian Salizhan Sharipov and American Leroy Chiao are eagerly awaiting the Christmastime arrival of the Progress M-51, which launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, which Russia rents from its ex-Soviet neighbor.
The craft is scheduled to dock Sunday with the space station, where the two-man crew has been stationed since mid-October. In early December, the astronauts were asked to cut their daily calorie intake by about 10 percent.
THE MIDDLE EAST
• JERUSALEM -- Israel is taking special steps to ensure a merry Christmas in Bethlehem, an Israeli military official said, raising hopes for a gentler holiday in the place considered the birthplace of Jesus after four years of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
Lt. Col. Aviv Feigel, head of the army's Bethlehem district liaison office, said Israel would transfer security control in the city to Palestinian forces between Christmas Eve and the Armenian Christmas on Jan. 19. He said Israeli soldiers manning area checkpoints also would be given detailed instructions on how to deal with Christian visitors.
The main difference in this year's atmosphere is the perception of lessened tensions since the Nov. 11 death of Yasser Arafat.
THE AMERICAS
• HAVANA -- Cheered by hundreds of lawmakers, a smiling Fidel Castro walked in public for the first time since shattering his kneecap in a fall two months ago. Legislators looked stunned, then smiled and applauded, when Cuba's 78-year-old president entered the main auditorium of the Convention Palace on the arm of a uniformed schoolgirl to attend a year-end National Assembly meeting.
• TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- At least 23 people were killed in the northern industrial city of San Pedro Sula when gunmen sprayed a public bus with bullets and left a warning for crime-busting politicians, police said.
• CARACAS, Venezuela -- A Venezuelan court ordered the arrest on rebellion charges of eight former executives of the state oil company who led a crippling strike in the world's No. 5 oil exporter two years ago.
EUROPE
• OSLO -- Police have a suspect in the bold, daylight theft of two Edvard Munch masterpieces, but declined to say how close they were to finding the priceless paintings.
"The Scream" and "Madonna" were stolen Aug. 22 from Oslo's Munch museum by three masked robbers, at least one with a gun. There has been no sign of the works. The unidentified man was released after questioning but is still considered a suspect, Assistant Police Chief Iver Stensrud said.
• COPENHAGEN -- The jolly man in the red suit is being pinched by Greenland's belt-tightening, meaning 25,000 children worldwide will not get a reply to their letters to Santa Claus. In 2002, the government stopped giving Santa Claus of Greenland $306,000 to pay the postage for those replies. The company, which is run by Tele Greenland Group and staffed by volunteers, cannot pay for the stamps itself.
Greenland -- like Finland, Sweden and Norway -- claims to be the real home of Santa Claus.
• MOSCOW -- Two Russian intelligence agents convicted by a Qatar court of assassinating a Chechen rebel leader arrived back in Russia, where the Kremlin had requested they be allowed to serve out their life sentences.
Relations between Russia and the oil-rich Persian Gulf state closely allied to the United States have been strained since Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, a former president in Chechnya, was killed in an explosion while leaving a mosque in Doha on Feb. 13. The agents were convicted in June.
AFRICA
• LAGOS, Nigeria -- Thieves stealing fuel from a pipeline near Lagos set it ablaze as they fled from police, and at least 20 people died in the fire, authorities said.
-- From News Services
