Tuesday, June 3, 2008
ISRAEL
U.S. Reverses Stance On Gazans' Scholarships
The United States has reinstated the Fulbright scholarships of seven Gaza Strip students blocked by Israel from leaving the Hamas-ruled territory, the State Department said Monday.
The students were informed Thursday that their scholarships for the upcoming academic year would be deferred because they could not get out of Gaza, which Israel blockaded after the Islamist militant group seized power a year ago.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the U.S. reversal came on orders from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who first heard about the scholarship problem on Friday. "She wasn't pleased," McCormack said.
Israeli officials say U.S. diplomats did not ask for special exemptions for the students, while U.S. officials say Israel should have recognized immediately that they were a special case. McCormack appeared to blame lower-level U.S. diplomats or staff for yanking the scholarships.
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said Israel "sincerely hopes that it will be possible to get the students out by the beginning of the coming academic year."
Also Monday, the Israeli Supreme Court criticized the government for preventing Gaza students from studying abroad and gave it two weeks to review its policy. Israel argues that its travel restrictions are designed to prevent attacks.
HondurasInternational Air Travel Is Stopped in Capital
The Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa will be without an international airport for two months after authorities banned all but domestic flights there following a deadly air crash, officials said Monday.
The country planned to adapt a military airstrip for civilian use after a Salvadoran passenger plane skidded off a runway last week at Tegucigalpa's airport and smashed into cars and a building. Five people died in the crash.
In the meantime, international flights into the country must arrive at San Pedro Sula, 100 miles from Tegucigalpa.
"We have set up an emergency plan in which we see an international airport operating within two months," civil aviation head Guillermo Seaman said at a news conference.
SINGAPOREU.S. Lawyer Charged
An American lawyer who has been a critic of Singapore's ruling party was charged Monday with insulting a judge in an e-mail and on his Web site, court documents showed.
Gopalan Nair, a former Singapore citizen who runs a California law firm, was arrested Friday and will be held for seven days pending further investigation, his lawyer said. Nair could face a year in jail if convicted.
He had attended a hearing on defamation damages to be paid to the city-state's prime minister and his father, the former prime minister, by an opposition party leader. Then he accused the judge of bias.
RUSSIAPutin Appoints Ex-Envoy
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin appointed Russia's longtime ambassador to the United States to his cabinet Monday, deepening speculation that the former president will claim a strong foreign policy role.
Putin named Yuri Ushakov as a deputy cabinet chief of staff, a spokesman said. The appointment was revealed shortly after the Kremlin said President Dmitry Medvedev had relieved Ushakov of the diplomatic post because he was taking another job.
Georgia Protests DeploymentGeorgia summoned Russia's ambassador to its Foreign Ministry to protest the weekend deployment of about 400 Russian soldiers to repair railway lines in the breakaway region of Abkhazia.
Train Hits Bus, Killing ChildrenA train slammed into a bus carrying schoolchildren at a railroad crossing in the French Alps, killing seven children and injuring 24 other people, officials said.
Mayor Slain in MexicoSuspected drug gang hit men shot a mayor in western Mexico as he drove back from a day out with his family, officials said.
From News Services
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