Ramallah—Palestinians
appealed to the United States on Thursday to
raise pressure on Israel, saying an Israeli plan
to halt new construction in the West Bank was
insincere. Yasser Abed Rabbo, a top presidential
adviser, said he hopes U.S. envoy George
Mitchell can bring about what he called “a real
peace process” that would halt all settlement
construction. Mitchell is expected in the region
soon in his latest attempt to bring the sides
back to the negotiating table.
London—Britain’s Tony Blair may have swung
behind US calls for regime change in Iraq after
meeting president George W. Bush at his Texas
ranch, a former top diplomat told an inquiry
into the 2003 war Thursday. Christopher Meyer,
then Britain’s ambassador to Washington, said
that Blair’s line seemed to harden following
talks at the ranch in Crawford in April 2002,
much of which was held in private with no
advisers present.
The Hague—The
International Criminal Court’s prosecutor asked
judges Thursday for permission to investigate
Kenya’s postelection violence that left more
than 1,000 people dead. Luis Moreno Ocampo said
there is a “reasonable basis to believe that
crimes against humanity” were committed when
violence erupted after President Mwai Kibaki was
declared winner of Kenya’s 2007 elections.
Taipei—Taiwan’s cabinet on Thursday approved
infrastructure projects worth nearly four
trillion Taiwan dollars (125 billion US), to be
rolled out over eight years in a bid to boost
its economy. The government is expected to
finance 2.70 trillion and raise another 1.2
trillion from the private sector, a cabinet
statement said. Projects include the expansion
of Taoyuan international airport in the north,
Kaohsiung harbour in the south and one of the
island’s largest science parks, located in the
centre.
IN Germany, a nation that embraced one of the
world’s most aggressive campaigns against global
warming, the Pokropp family can almost hear the
cha-ching when switching off their lights. A
kilowatt of electricity costs three times as
much here as it does in the United States,
supercharged with high taxes to discourage use
and to help fund renewable energy development.
Meanwhile, a 50 percent “eco-tax” has sent the
price of gasoline soaring to $8 a gallon.
