United Nations: Russia pushes for Iraq inspections
Russia wants a U.N. resolution on Iraq to address the restoration of international monitoring of Baghdad’s weapons programs and the lifting of decade-old sanctions, a senior Russian diplomat said Friday. Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Andrey Granovsky, said a U.S.-backed British proposal to overhaul sanctions against Iraq does not include these important elements – and its adoption would “bury forever” the possibility of getting U.N. weapons inspectors back into Iraq.
Australia: Burger King loses franchise fight
Fast-food restaurant chain Burger King has been ordered to pay about $39 million to a franchisee for trying to take a bigger bite of the Australian burger market. The New South Wales state court of appeal on Thursday upheld most of an earlier state Supreme Court decision that found the U.S. chain wrongly terminated a 1990 development agreement with local chain Hungry Jack’s.
France: Jets skirt air show impoundment
Two Russian jet fighters took off from Paris on Friday, eluding judicial officials waiting to impound them in a bizarre legal drama at the world’s biggest air show. The officials were trying to seize the jets as part of a protracted legal battle between Russia and Swiss-based trading company Noga over unpaid debts. A Russian ship was impounded last year at an international boat race in France. The Sukhoi SU-30 fighter jet and the Mig-AT trainer jet took off about 3 p.m. from the Paris Air Show, heading back to Russia.
Spain: Man linked to bin Laden is arrested
Spanish police on Friday arrested an Algerian man linked to fugitive Islamic militant Osama bin Laden, Spain’s interior minister said. The suspect, Mohammed Bensakharia, was taken into custody in the southeastern city of Alicante, Interior Minister Mariano Rajoy said. He was sought by the Interpol and U.S. authorities and also has a French warrant for his arrest. Mr. Bensakharia is thought to be the leader of the terrorist commando “Meliani,” which was broken up in Germany in December.
Germany: 7 killed in 2 rail crossing accidents
At least seven people were killed and dozens injured in two separate train accidents at rail crossings in southern Germany. The American driver of a U.S. Army truck was among at least three people who died after a two-car commuter train smashed through the truck and burst into flames at a crossing near the town of Vilseck, about 45 miles east of Nuremberg, in the state of Bavaria. In a separate crash farther south in Bavaria, a family of four died after a train rammed a car on a crossing near the town of Donauwoerth, police said late Friday.
Mexico: Man arrested near U.S. embassy
A Mexican man armed with 20 homemade gasoline bombs was arrested as he was about to throw them at the U.S. Embassy on Friday, police said. Marco Fabio Flores Licea, 26, was carrying 18 glass bottles and two plastic bottles filled with gasoline and equipped with cloth fuses when he was intercepted, said Misael Mora, a spokesman for Mexico City’s attorney general’s office.
