 A suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt at a crowded gas station Tuesday one of five attacks that rocked Baghdad in quick succession, killing at least 41 people and wounding scores, police said. The surge of violence, including three car bombs, unsettled an Iraqi capital already shaken by fears the country teeters on the brink of sectarian civil war. Iraqis have suffered through days of reprisal killings and attacks on Sunni mosques since bombers blew apart the gold dome of the revered Shiite Askariya shrine in Samarra on Wednesday. The Iraqi Cabinet said 379 people had been killed and 458 wounded in reprisal attacks in the week since the shrine was destroyed. In Washington, President Bush decried the latest surge in sectarian violence in Iraq and declared that for Iraqis "the choice is chaos or unity." ...
http://abcnews.go.com
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Editor - 10:14:00 02-28-06
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 Israel softens criticism of Russia on Hamas talks |
Israel backed off its harsh criticism of Russia on Tuesday ahead of Moscow's talks with leaders of Hamas following the Islamist militant group's victory in Palestinian elections. Israel's interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met top officials to review policy toward Russia after it invited Hamas for March 3 talks which are to take place at a higher level than expected, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov quoted by Russian news agencies as saying he will personally take part. Russia's move challenged Israel's U.S.-backed efforts to isolate Hamas unless it recognizes the Jewish state, but Olmert toned down Israel's earlier criticism of Moscow over the talks. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1670604
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Editor - 10:10:00 02-28-06
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| NGOs face hostility abroad |
In a growing number of countries around the world, promoting the popular will is becoming unpopular. U.S. pro-democracy groups say they are facing increasing -- and increasingly sophisticated -- opposition from authoritarian regimes eager to preserve their grip on power. "It used to be that groups like ours could fly somewhat under the radar," said Lorne Craner, president of the congressionally funded International Republican Institute (IRI). "That certainly is not the case anymore." Nongovernmental organizations such as the IRI, its Democratic counterpart the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Freedom House, the Open Society Institute (OSI) and their Western European allies insist that their mission is to help countries build the infrastructure of democracy and civil society, not to overthrow governments. But the prominence that President Bush has given to democratic reforms in his foreign policy and the stunning success of the so-called "color revolutions" in Georgia, Ukraine...
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20060228-120009-3531r.htm
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Editor - 10:07:00 02-28-06
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| Anti-Abortion Groups Win Blockade Case at High Court |
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned a court order that barred a group of anti-abortion activists from blockading clinics, bringing a 20-year-old legal fight to an end. The court today unanimously reaffirmed a decision it issued three years ago, saying abortion-rights supporters can't use a federal extortion law to prevent blockades by the Pro-Life Action League, Operation Rescue and other activists. The justices said a lower court wrongly concluded that the earlier ruling left open the possibility of a limited ban on blockades. Today's decision will have limited impact beyond the case before the high court. A law passed after the suit began, the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, now specifically authorizes injunctions and other penalties against people who block clinics or engage in violence. ...
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aGfuWvk_U4Ak&refer=home
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Editor - 10:02:00 02-28-06
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| Deadly Bird Flu Hits Sweden |
Swedish authorities said Tuesday that an aggressive strain of bird flu had been found in two wild ducks in southern Sweden, and that further tests would likely confirm it was the deadly H5N1 strain. Experts said the virus was a "highly pathogenic" form of the H5 virus, and samples had been sent to the European Union's reference laboratory in Weybridge, England for further analysis. "I would be surprised if it is not H5N1," Marianne Elvander of the National Veterinary Institute told the AP after a news conference. She said tests showed the virus was identical to strains found in Nigeria, Russia and China. "This means that we have bird flu in Sweden. It's serious, but not unexpected," Agriculture Minister Ann-Christin Nykvist told reporters in Stockholm. ...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/28/health/main1352347.shtml?CMP=OTC-RSSFeed&source=RSS&attr=World_1352347
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Editor - 09:55:00 02-28-06
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| Europeans Offer $144 Million Aid to Palestinians |
After receiving a dire warning that the Palestinian Authority was so short of money that it might collapse in two weeks, the European Union on Monday offered $144 million in aid to the Palestinians before a Hamas government takes power. The Europeans acted in partial response to a letter from James D. Wolfensohn, the special Middle East envoy of the so-called Quartet made up of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations. Mr. Wolfensohn warned in a letter dated Saturday that "unless a solution is found, we may be facing the financial collapse of the P.A. within two weeks," referring to the Palestinian Authority. The money from the European Union will not solve the Palestinian money crunch for very long, especially since most of it is not in cash, but it will ease the burden of repayments to suppliers....
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/28/international/middleeast/28mideast.html?ex=1298782800&en=fc003eb3294f86c6&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
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Editor - 09:50:00 02-28-06
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