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| AP Photo Jamestown Revisited The Susan Constant, left, and the Godsped, both replicas of the ships that brought settlers to the Jamestown Settlement 400 years ago, return to their berths at the settlement museum on Saturday. Jamestown was America’s first permanent English settement. President Bush will join the anniversary celebration today. |
By The Associated Press
Cheney hopes to ease Saudi qualms
TABUK, Saudi Arabia—Vice President Dick Cheney worked to overcome Saudi skepticism over the U.S. military strategy to secure Baghdad and the leadership capabilities of Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki.
Cheney met with King Abdullah at a royal palace in this northern city on Saturday. The king, while considered an important U.S. ally in the Arab world, increasingly has sent signals that he doubts the effectiveness of President Bush’s troop buildup in Iraq.
Abdullah also has signaled that he sees al-Maliki as a weak leader with too many ties to pro-Iranian Shiite parties to be effective in reaching out to Iraqi’s Sunni minority. Saudi Arabia has a predominantly Sunni Muslim population.
The kingdom has taken an aggressive leadership role in efforts to quiet Mideast troubles. In a possible attempt to gain more credibility in the region, Abdullah recently has openly challenged the U.S. military presence in Iraq, calling U.S. troops in Iraq an “illegal foreign occupation.”
The king refused to see al-Maliki when the Iraqi prime minister toured Arab countries late last month.
Pope Benedict warns of divine retribution
GUARATINGUETA, Brazil —Drug traffickers will face divine justice for the scourge of illegal narcotics across Latin America that destroys lives amid seemingly endless drug-related violence, Pope Benedict XVI said Saturday.
“God will call you to account for your deeds,” he warned the dealers to cheers from recovering addicts at a rural treatment center founded by a Franciscan friar.
Brazil and the rest of Latin America face dangerously high rates of drug abuse and traffickers must “reflect on the grave harm they are inflicting on countless young people and on adults from every level of society,” Benedict said.
“Human dignity cannot be trampled upon in this way,” the pope declared before a cheering crowd of 6,000 on a sprawling lawn outside the “Fazenda de Esperanca,” or “Farm of Hope” near Brazil’s holiest shrine, the basilica of Aparecida, home to the nation’s patron saint, a black Virgin Mary.
28 die as Pakistan judicial crisis explodes
KARACHI, Pakistan — A political crisis threatening President Gen. Pervez Musharraf exploded into violence Saturday when clashes between pro-government gunmen and opposition supporters killed at least 28 people and thwarted a major rally against military rule.
The violence in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, was the worst in a two-month crisis shaking the government under Musharraf, a vital U.S. ally who provoked the turmoil by ousting the head of the Supreme Court on March 9.
Gunmen with assault rifles traded fire among bungalows and concrete apartment blocks in the city of 15 million, a major port and home to Pakistan’s stock market. Shipping containers and immobilized trucks blocked streets and men brandished rifles and handguns against a backdrop of burning cars and buses.
The attacks trapped ousted Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry at the Karachi airport, unable to attend what organizers hoped to be the largest rally yet calling for Chaudhry’s reinstatement and for Musharraf to step down.
Critics accuse Musharraf of removing Chaudhry to protect the president’s plan to seek a new five-year term. The government maintains Chaudhry was ousted because he had abused his office.
Severed head found outside army base
VERACRUZ, Mexico— A severed head accompanied by a note of defiance from organized crime groups was found outside a military barracks in Veracruz on Saturday, a day after authorities said they were sending more troops and police to the state to fight the gangs.
The head was in a box along with two grenades and a note from the purported gang members. The body of the victim— a 37-year-old auto mechanic who had been kidnapped four days earlier —was found later in another neighborhood in Veracruz city, wrapped in a sheet.
TABUK, Saudi Arabia—Vice President Dick Cheney worked to overcome Saudi skepticism over the U.S. military strategy to secure Baghdad and the leadership capabilities of Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki.
Cheney met with King Abdullah at a royal palace in this northern city on Saturday. The king, while considered an important U.S. ally in the Arab world, increasingly has sent signals that he doubts the effectiveness of President Bush’s troop buildup in Iraq.
Abdullah also has signaled that he sees al-Maliki as a weak leader with too many ties to pro-Iranian Shiite parties to be effective in reaching out to Iraqi’s Sunni minority. Saudi Arabia has a predominantly Sunni Muslim population.
The kingdom has taken an aggressive leadership role in efforts to quiet Mideast troubles. In a possible attempt to gain more credibility in the region, Abdullah recently has openly challenged the U.S. military presence in Iraq, calling U.S. troops in Iraq an “illegal foreign occupation.”
The king refused to see al-Maliki when the Iraqi prime minister toured Arab countries late last month.
Pope Benedict warns of divine retribution
GUARATINGUETA, Brazil —Drug traffickers will face divine justice for the scourge of illegal narcotics across Latin America that destroys lives amid seemingly endless drug-related violence, Pope Benedict XVI said Saturday.
“God will call you to account for your deeds,” he warned the dealers to cheers from recovering addicts at a rural treatment center founded by a Franciscan friar.
Brazil and the rest of Latin America face dangerously high rates of drug abuse and traffickers must “reflect on the grave harm they are inflicting on countless young people and on adults from every level of society,” Benedict said.
“Human dignity cannot be trampled upon in this way,” the pope declared before a cheering crowd of 6,000 on a sprawling lawn outside the “Fazenda de Esperanca,” or “Farm of Hope” near Brazil’s holiest shrine, the basilica of Aparecida, home to the nation’s patron saint, a black Virgin Mary.
28 die as Pakistan judicial crisis explodes
KARACHI, Pakistan — A political crisis threatening President Gen. Pervez Musharraf exploded into violence Saturday when clashes between pro-government gunmen and opposition supporters killed at least 28 people and thwarted a major rally against military rule.
The violence in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, was the worst in a two-month crisis shaking the government under Musharraf, a vital U.S. ally who provoked the turmoil by ousting the head of the Supreme Court on March 9.
Gunmen with assault rifles traded fire among bungalows and concrete apartment blocks in the city of 15 million, a major port and home to Pakistan’s stock market. Shipping containers and immobilized trucks blocked streets and men brandished rifles and handguns against a backdrop of burning cars and buses.
The attacks trapped ousted Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry at the Karachi airport, unable to attend what organizers hoped to be the largest rally yet calling for Chaudhry’s reinstatement and for Musharraf to step down.
Critics accuse Musharraf of removing Chaudhry to protect the president’s plan to seek a new five-year term. The government maintains Chaudhry was ousted because he had abused his office.
Severed head found outside army base
VERACRUZ, Mexico— A severed head accompanied by a note of defiance from organized crime groups was found outside a military barracks in Veracruz on Saturday, a day after authorities said they were sending more troops and police to the state to fight the gangs.
The head was in a box along with two grenades and a note from the purported gang members. The body of the victim— a 37-year-old auto mechanic who had been kidnapped four days earlier —was found later in another neighborhood in Veracruz city, wrapped in a sheet.
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