Annan seeks end to blockade
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived Tuesday for talks with Israeli leaders after calling again for an end to Israel’s blockade of Lebanon and the release of two captured Israeli soldiers.
Annan’s visit is part of an 11-day tour through the region aimed at solidifying the cease-fire that ended the monthlong conflict between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.
The U.N. chief, who arrived after touring war-battered south Lebanon, met separately with Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz and the families of two Israeli soldiers whose abduction by Hezbollah on July 12 triggered the fighting.
Annan is scheduled to meet today with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni before traveling to the West Bank for a session with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
London
3 more charged in terrorism plot
British anti-terrorist police charged three more people late Tuesday with conspiring to commit murder in the alleged plot to blow up U.S.-bound airliners.
The three – Mohammed Yasar Gulzar, Mohammed Shamin Uddin and Nabeel Hussain – were also charged with preparing to commit terrorism by helping in an alleged plan to smuggle explosives aboard the planes, police said.
Eleven people have now been charged on those two counts. Four others were charged with lesser offenses, including having knowledge of a terrorist activity but not disclosing information about it.
Gulzar, Uddin and Hussain will be arraigned today.
Of 25 people originally arrested, 15 have been charged and are being held by police, five others remain in custody without charge and five have been released.
Caracas, Venezuela
Housing planned on golf course land
Three major Caracas golf courses, long favored by the city’s wealthy, will be turned into housing developments for the poor and middle class, officials said Tuesday.
The expropriations, which will likely generate new friction between supporters and opponents of President Hugo Chavez, are part of an ambitious government effort to provide more homes amid an acute housing shortage that has driven up real estate prices.
Mayor Juan Barreto’s office has ordered the “forced acquisition” of two golf courses and will soon issue another decree expropriating a third course in the ritzy hills of southern Caracas, city attorney Juan Manuel Vadell told the Associated Press.
Vadell said the golf courses’ owners have 30 days to appear before the mayor’s office, starting a negotiation period in which a commission will eventually decide on fair compensation for the courses.
Barreto told state television as many as 50,000 homes would be built on 363 acres spanning the three golf courses.