World Digest
Roadside bomb kills one, wounds 21 in Tel Aviv

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The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a Palestinian militant group loosely linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for the attack, Israel Radio reported.

The blast came two days after the U.N. world court ruled that Israel's West Bank separation barrier — meant to block Palestinian militants from entering the country — is illegal. Palestinian militants have not successfully carried out an attack inside Israel in more than three months.

Tel Aviv police chief Yossi Sedbon said the explosives were planted on the side of the road and went off as a bus stood nearby.

Despite ratings dip, leader pushes ahead

TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, whose popularity has taken a sudden plunge, ended campaigning before today's Parliamentary elections by pledging to push ahead with economic reforms.

Half of the chamber's 242 seats in the upper house will be contested. Polls showed Koizumi's ruling Liberal Democratic Party could lose several of its 115 seats, but its hold on the government is expected to remain intact because of a firm majority in the more powerful lower house.

The campaign has been marked by a sudden drop in Koizumi's popularity because he extended the stay of Japanese troops in Iraq and continues to support widely derided pension legislation.

While Koizumi, who took office as a wildly popular reformer in 2001, was expected to avoid disaster in the election, a loss of seats could undermine his standing in his own party and impair his ability to carry out policies.

Cuba seeks to build military recruitment

HAVANA — Cuba has ordered a study of its military-recruitment program, hoping to enlist more young men in the armed forces during a period in which authorities say they are increasingly concerned about a U.S.-led military attack.
 
Officials in Washington have repeatedly insisted there are no plans for the United States to attack Cuba.

Current events have increased "the real possibility of an armed aggression, in whatever moment the enemy finds it convenient," the decree said, an apparent reference to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

The decree acknowledges a drop in recruits for career military service in recent years, in large part because of increasingly lower birth rates over the past two decades and a shortened period of compulsory service for young men.

Under Cuban law, men 18 and older must serve in the military 24 months, or 12 months if already enrolled in college. Little more than a decade ago, young men had to complete 36 months of service. Military service for women is voluntary.

Elections to be held for first time in years

Saudi Arabia said it will hold municipal elections in September, the first polls in decades in this conservative kingdom.

Municipal Affairs Minister Prince Mutaeb announced yesterday that election preparations have started and a list of regulations would be issued soon, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

The municipal-council elections would give Saudis the chance to participate in decision making, a rare event in the oil-rich kingdom, which is an absolute monarchy that has an unelected Consultative Council and where political parties are banned and press freedoms limited.