Iranians seek N-program restart
Tehran, Iran
More than 13,000 Iranian students and academics signed petitions urging Iranian president Mohammad Khatami to resume the country’s suspended uranium enrichment efforts, state-run radio reported Saturday.
The petition said prolonging the suspension – done at the behest of international negotiators – was only pleasing those who “cannot tolerate Iran’s scientific triumphs.”
It called on the government “to defend our scientific dignity and national pride.”
But Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Saturday that the government has still not fixed a date for resuming its nuclear program.
Two held after bomb goes off in city square
Madrid, Spain
A small bomb exploded in the central square of a city in northwestern Spain on Saturday, causing no injuries and little damage, officials said. Authorities arrested two people with links to Galician separatists.
The explosion took place about 2:45 p.m. at an ATM in downtown Santiago de Compostela, said a statement from the Interior Ministry in the region of Galicia.
Two people were detained as they left a suspicious package at the headquarters of the Caixa Galicia bank in the city, the statement read. It added the two suspects were being followed by police, who suspected them of links to small Galician separatist groups.
The city lies at the end of the Catholic pilgrimage route known as the Way of St. James and attracts thousands of visitors each year, especially during the summer months.
Café bomb blast wounds two in Turkey
Istanbul, Turkey
A bomb exploded Saturday at an Istanbul cafe frequented by tourists, injuring at least two people, police said.
The blast at a cafe near the city’s Galata bridge was caused by either a remote-controlled bomb or a bomb with a timer, police said.
A Dutch citizen and a Turk who worked at the cafe were injured, the Anatolia news agency reported. Police at the site earlier said that three people were injured, but a police official later said that only two people were injured. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy.
Police suspected Kurdish rebels were behind the attack.
Also Saturday, the Sirnak governor’s office in southeast Turkey said government forces killed five Kurdish rebels in a gunbattle. The violence Thursday brought to 15 the number of rebels killed in the past 10 days.
Clinton visits Africa to help kids with HIV
Nairobi, Kenya
Former President Bill Clinton launched a program Saturday that will nearly double the number of children receiving treatment for HIV infection in Kenya by the end of the year.
Some 100,000 children are infected with HIV, but only 1,200 receive treatment. The Clinton Foundation’s Pediatric HIV/AIDS Initiative will provide treatment to an additional 1,000 children in this East African nation.
Clinton flew to Rwanda later Saturday and donated a year’s supply of anti-retroviral treatment for 2,500 children infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
The initiative is part of the foundation’s goal to get 10,000 children on anti-retroviral treatment in at least 10 countries by the end of 2005.
Clinton has raised funds from private donors led by the Children Investment Fund Foundation, a London-based charity that funds projects to improve the lives of children in poor countries. The U.S.-based investment fund Lone Pine Capital has also made a substantial contribution.