World Digest
Yasser Arafat phones friends in West Bank

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There was still no explanation for what caused the recent deterioration in his condition. Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said all types of cancer had been ruled out, but no doctors have publicly confirmed that conclusion.

Doctors were running tests to determine whether Arafat, 75, was suffering from a viral infection, poisoning or some other malady, Palestinian aides said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who had kept Arafat confined to Palestinian Authority headquarters in the West Bank for 2½ years, yesterday rebuffed Israeli hard-liner demands that Arafat not be allowed to return.

However, Sharon ruled out a Jerusalem burial for the Palestinian leader. Israel thinks granting Arafat's wish to be buried there would bolster Palestinian claims to the city.

Moscow

Chechen warlord says civilians fair target

Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev, who claimed responsibility for last month's Beslan school hostage-taking, warned yesterday in a printed interview that he was ready to fight Russia for a decade and insisted civilians remained a fair target.

Basayev also said the rebels would observe international law if Russia also made such a commitment. The Chechens have accused the Russians of human-rights violations and war crimes.

"If [President Vladimir] Putin doesn't want peace, we'll wait until he leaves or if we can we'll send him directly to hell," Basayev said. "Five years of war have gone quickly, another five or 10 years will go just as fast."

Tehran, Iran
 
Parliament approves uranium legislation

To shouts of "Death to America," Iran's parliament yesterday unanimously approved the outline of a bill that would require the government to resume uranium enrichment, legislation likely to deepen an international dispute over Iran's nuclear activities.

Still, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Hossein Mousavian, told The Associated Press there was a 50 percent chance of a nuclear compromise with European nations.

He ruled out an indefinite suspension of key enrichment activities but suggested Iran would consider calling a halt to building more nuclear facilities.

The United States says Iran plans to build nuclear weapons. Iran, which is rich in natural-gas and oil deposits, says it is interested only in generating electricity.

Lagos, Nigeria

Unions plan strike over fuel prices

Unions yesterday declared the top oil multinational here, Royal Dutch/Shell, "an enemy of the Nigerian people" and called a Nov. 16 nationwide strike that they said would target oil exports.

Nigeria is the world's No. 7 oil exporter and the source of one-fifth of U.S. oil imports. A strike probably would send new shocks through the global oil market.

Unions called the strike after giving President Olusegun Obasanjo until yesterday to reverse a 23 percent increase in fuel prices in Nigeria.

Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

Protesters demand justice in murders

About two dozen Canadian and U.S. activists joined about 1,000 Mexicans yesterday in a demonstration to demand justice in the murders of hundreds of local women in the crime-ridden border city of Ciudad Juarez.

Prosecutors say more than 340 women have been stabbed, strangled and bludgeoned to death since 1993 in the industrial city that lies south of El Paso, Texas. There have been two convictions.

Langchenggang, China

Martial law declared after rioting, fires

Rioting between hundreds of members of the Han ethnic majority and Hui Muslims in this central China town over the weekend killed at least seven people, local residents said today. The New York Times reported that 148 had died.

Residents said 400 to 500 rioters fought with sticks and burned several houses.

The Times said violence erupted after a Han girl was struck and killed by a Hui taxi driver. However, an accountant contacted at a factory in the town said it grew out of an incident Friday in which three Hui men beat up a 17-year-old Han boy who blocked their car on a street.

Martial law was imposed.