WORLD IN BRIEF
Thursday, March 15, 2007; Page A14
Blair Weathers Party Revolt In Vote on Nuclear Subs
LONDON -- Prime Minister Tony Blair survived a major revolt in his party over the renewal of Britain's nuclear arsenal, relying on the opposition to win a parliamentary vote Wednesday. Parliament voted 409 to 161 in favor of a plan to spend $29 billion to $39 billion on new nuclear-armed submarines to replace those scheduled to go out of service in 2024.
About 85 members of Blair's Labor Party voted against the plan to buy a new nuclear weapons system in the biggest rebellion against Blair since a 2003 vote on whether to go to war in Iraq, according to one rebel politician. That would have been enough to endanger Blair's 67-seat majority in the 646-member House of Commons, but the opposition Conservatives threw their support behind Blair.
* * *
the middle east
· UNITED NATIONS -- U.N. ambassadors from six world powers agreed in principle on proposed sanctions against Iran and were expected to introduce a resolution to the Security Council on Thursday if their governments approve it, the U.S. ambassador said.
· GAZA CITY -- Political rivals Hamas and Fatah reached a final agreement on forming a unity government, wrapping up months of tortuous negotiations aimed at ending deadly internal fighting and lifting international sanctions against the Palestinians. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said he would present the new government to parliament this weekend for final approval.
· JERUSALEM -- A third of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are built on land privately owned by Palestinians, the anti-settlement group Peace Now said in a report.
· JERUSALEM -- A report by a team of U.N. experts calls on Israel to halt excavations near Jerusalem's most sacred site to Muslims and proceed only under international supervision, officials said. Israel's archaeological excavations, taking place 165 feet from a religious compound known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif or Noble Enclosure and to Jews as the Temple Mount, have sparked protests across the Muslim world.
europe
· WARSAW -- A 97-year-old woman credited with saving 2,500 Jewish children during the Holocaust was honored by Parliament at a ceremony during which Poland's president said she deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. Irena Sendler, who lives in a nursing home in Warsaw, was too frail to attend the special session in which senators unanimously approved a resolution honoring her and the Polish underground's Council for Assisting Jews.
· MOSCOW -- The retrial of two Russian men accused of killing American journalist Paul Klebnikov was suspended indefinitely while police try to track down one of the defendants, a court spokeswoman said. Klebnikov, editor of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine, was shot outside his Moscow office in 2004.
asia
· BANGKOK -- Suspected Muslim extremists ambushed a commuter van carrying a group of Buddhists and killed eight of them execution-style in Thailand's restive south, military and hospital officials said. The attack prompted officials to step up security in the south, where a Muslim insurgency has claimed more than 2,000 lives since 2004.
-- From News Services
