Spain seeks arrest of U.S. soldiers

Madrid, Spain A judge has issued an international arrest warrant for three U.S. soldiers whose tank fired on a Baghdad hotel during the Iraq war, killing a Spanish journalist and a Ukrainian cameraman, a court official said Wednesday.

Judge Santiago Pedraz issued the warrant for Sgt. Shawn Gibson, Capt. Philip Wolford and Lt. Col. Philip de Camp, all from the U.S. 3rd Infantry, which is based in Fort Stewart, Ga.

Jose Couso, who worked for the Spanish television network Telecinco, died April 8, 2003, after a U.S. army tank crew fired a shell on Hotel Palestine in Baghdad where many journalists were staying to cover the war. Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk, a Ukrainian, also was killed.

Pedraz had sent two requests to the United States — in April 2004 and June 2005 — to have statements taken from the suspects or to obtain permission for a Spanish delegation to quiz them. Both went unanswered.

He said he issued the arrest order because of a lack of judicial cooperation from the United States regarding the case.

Tokyo gets shaking from 6.5 earthquake

Tokyo A strong earthquake rocked northeastern Japan late Wednesday, shaking buildings in Tokyo and nearby areas and briefly shutting down train lines. Two people were reportedly injured.

The earthquake, with a preliminary magnitude of 6.5, was centered 30 miles below the sea off the coast of Ibaraki prefecture, about 70 miles northeast of Tokyo, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There was no danger of a tsunami, officials said.

The quake shook 20 of the country’s 47 prefectures, said Takeshi Hachimine, a spokesman for Japan’s Meteorogical Agency. He said the region should brace for aftershocks measuring at least magnitude 5.0 over the next few days.

New Zealand looking to better U.S. relations

Wellington, New Zealand New Zealand’s new foreign minister said Wednesday he wants to improve relations with the United States strained for 20 years by New Zealand’s anti-nuclear policies.

“It is what I think most New Zealanders would want and our allies would want and the United States would want,” Winston Peters told the Associated Press in an interview.

New Zealand’s 1985 laws banning nuclear weapons and nuclear powered ships from its harbors has been a 20-year irritant between the two countries and has been blamed for Washington’s reluctance to negotiate a free-trade deal with Wellington.

Peters, sworn in Wednesday as foreign minister in Prime Minister Helen Clark’s third-term Labour-led administration, stressed that political leaders cannot ignore the popularity of the nuclear-free policy.

“The mass majority of New Zealanders have expressed their view” that the laws should not be changed, he said.

But Peters, said a trade deal between Washington and Wellington is still possible if the nuclear issue is put aside.