WORLD IN BRIEF
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GAZA STRIP
Hamas Forces Undo Egypt's Efforts at Border
Hamas guerrillas on Friday hauled away metal spikes that Egyptian soldiers had placed at sections of the Gaza-Egypt border, defying attempts to reseal the frontier and stop the influx of blockade-weary Gazans.
Since Hamas-allied forces toppled the border wall Jan. 23, guerrillas have stopped several resealing attempts by Egypt. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have rushed into Egypt to shop and visit relatives, but most have returned to Gaza.
It remains unclear whether Gaza's Hamas rulers will use force to keep the border open. They want a role in running the border with Egypt, a demand rejected this week by Egypt and by Hamas's rival, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Hamas prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, said he would not allow the border to be resealed.
SAUDI ARABIA
U.N. Committee Urges Freedoms for Women
A United Nations human rights body on Friday called on Saudi Arabia to immediately end its system of male guardianship, which it said severely limits the basic freedoms of women in the kingdom.
The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women said sharia, or Islamic law, should not trump an international women's rights treaty that Saudi Arabia signed in 2000.
The country's system of male guardianship sharply curtails the rights afforded in the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the committee said. The rules restrict women's legal rights in marriage, divorce, child custody, inheritance and property ownership, as well as choice of residence, education and jobs, the committee said.
VIETNAM
Panel Seeks More Funding for Dioxin Cleanup
More than three decades after the Vietnam War, the United States and Vietnam this month completed temporary steps to contain dioxin contamination at a former U.S. air base in Danang.
But the U.S. government, as well as U.S. foundations and corporations, should contribute more money to clean up the site permanently, members of a joint U.S.-Vietnamese working group on Agent Orange said Friday in Hanoi.
