Sarkozy Says Military Confrontation in Iran Would Be 'Catastrophic,' Urges Diplomacy

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Sarkozy Says Military Confrontation in Iran Would Be 'Catastrophic,' Urges Diplomacy

PARIS -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned that it would be "catastrophic" to resort to military force in confronting Iran over its suspected nuclear program.

"For me, Iran having a nuclear weapon is unacceptable," Sarkozy said in his first foreign policy address, but he stressed that he opposed an attack on the Islamic regime and urged that the West rely on diplomacy.

Iran can choose between dialogue with the international community or more U.N. sanctions, he said, adding that Iran is entitled to use nuclear power for civilian needs, such as generating electricity.

THE MIDDLE EAST

? JENIN, West Bank -- Palestinian police rescued an Israeli soldier after he mistakenly drove into the West Bank town of Jenin and was surrounded by a mob that later burned his car. Israel praised the rescue as a sign of the growing strength of Palestinian moderates.

The rescue stood in sharp contrast to an incident seven years ago in which two Israeli army reservists strayed into the West Bank city of Ramallah. Palestinian police captured them and took them to a police station. A mob stormed the station and killed the two, throwing one body from a second-story window as news photographers took pictures.

? RAMALLAH, West Bank -- The Palestinian government has ordered the closure of more than 100 institutions in the West Bank and Gaza, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said, in an apparent crackdown against Hamas, a militant organization known as the Islamic Resistance Movement.

It was unclear how Fayyad's government would carry out the edict in Gaza, which Hamas has ruled since violently taking over the territory in June, destroying a Palestinian power-sharing government. Fatah, a secular party that has the backing of the Bush administration, was swept from power by a Hamas victory in a 2006 parliamentary election.

AFRICA

? KAMPALA, Uganda -- A truck carrying soldiers and their families overturned in eastern Uganda, killing 72 people and injuring 40 others, the army spokesman said.

? CAIRO-- The head of CARE International's operations in Sudan, Paul Barker, was expelled after a year of directing one of the biggest private aid efforts in the Darfur region, the organization said. In the past week, Sudan also expelled the top Canadian diplomat and the European Commission envoy for what the government described as "meddling in its affairs."

ASIA

? TOKYO -- Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, reshuffled the cabinet and ruling party leadership, adding experienced conservatives as he attempted to regroup after a humiliating electoral defeat. Abe mined the cabinets of his predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi.

Abe asked Nobutaka Machimura, 62, to return as foreign minister, a post he held under Koizumi, while former justice and foreign minister Masahiko Komura, 65, will return as defense chief, newly installed chief cabinet secretary Kaoru Yosano said.

Fukushiro Nukaga, 63, a former defense minister and supporter of a joint missile defense with the United States, will lead the Finance Ministry. Trade Minister Akira Amari kept his post in the new cabinet.

? BEIJING -- Two Chinese brothers clawed their way out of a collapsed coal mine after surviving underground for nearly six days, shocking grieving relatives who had burned money for the men's souls to use in the afterlife, state media said.

The China Daily ran a front-page story about the Meng brothers' survival, but official reports made little mention of a mining disaster in Shandong province that left 181 workers trapped in flooded coal shafts 10 days ago and presumed dead.

The brothers were trapped 35 to 40 yards from the mine entrance but clawed their way out with a pick. With no food and little water, they ate coal and drank urine, media reported.

The two emerged from the mine hours after grieving relatives went to its entrance Friday to burn ceremonial currency for the men's souls to use in the afterlife and left offerings of steamed buns, cakes and canned goods, the Beijing News reported. Rescue work was halted after experts said there was no chance that the brothers from Inner Mongolia had survived.

THE AMERICAS

? BOGOTA, Colombia -- Nine people, including four children, were killed at a farm where the owner had been threatened by guerrillas over extortion payments, police said. The killing was the second in a week attributed to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the country's largest guerrilla force.

? BOGOTA, Colombia -- Colombia said it has seized a private Caribbean island and hundreds of other properties worth about $400 million and allegedly used by a powerful cocaine trafficker to launder millions in drug profits.

Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia was arrested in Brazil on Aug. 7. He faces three U.S. federal indictments on drug and racketeering charges, and U.S. officials plan to seek his extradition.

Ramirez Abadia, 44, said in an interview on Brazilian television that his arrest will not affect drug trafficking. "From all the people who started with me in this business several years ago, there are only two or three left. The rest either died or were extradited," he said. "I'm in prison, but there are people replacing me, then there will be others. It will never end."

-- From News Services