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<B>DILI. Altikriti’s supporters turn back. </B>Thousands of supporters of ousted East Timor Prime Minister Alkatiri turned back from a march on the capital, but several buildings were torched as feuding gangs clashed in Dili. Alkatiri quit after weeks of protests and, while President Xanana Gusmao considered the ruling Fretilin party’s suggestions for a replacement, thousands of party supporters gathered outside Dili, preparing to march on the capital.
<B>KABUL. Rice praises Karzai. </B>US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice heaped praise on President Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan, throwing Washington’s support behind a leader struggling to hold back resurgent Taliban forces. The top US diplomat, who flew from Pakistan to meet Karzai in Kabul, pledged unswerving support for the president whose popularity has slumped as he struggles to stem the violence and improve people’s lives.
<B>BRUSSELS. Iranian nuclear.</B> A meeting between European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Iran’s top nuclear negotiator has been postponed until after Group of Eight foreign ministers meet today an EU diplomat said. Solana will meet Ali Larijani somewhere in Europe next week to clarify a US-backed package of incentives for Tehran to stop sensitive nuclear research that the West fears is aimed at producing a bomb, the diplomat said.
COLOMBO. Tamil Tigers strike again. </B>Tamil Tiger rebels attacked two small Sri Lankan navy vessels at sea around 100 miles (165 km) north of the capital Colombo, setting one alight, the military said. Military sources said around 15 Tiger vessels were involved in the clash, the latest in a series many fear could rekindle civil war on the island.
SHENZHEN. Korean nuclear crisis. </B>China’s Premier Wen Jiabao called for a peaceful solution to the missile and nuclear crises on the Korean peninsula, and said all sides should work to ease tensions. Wen made the comments to reporters after holding talks with Australian Prime Minister John Howard that covered bilateral issues and also the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea.
<B>UNITED NATIONS. Help sent to Darfour region.</B> The United Nations should immediately beef up the African Union force in Sudan’s Darfur region with communications, transport and other help in preparation for its own operation, the head of UN peacekeeping said. Although Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has rejected a UN. force, the world body might be able to gain a foothold in Darfur by augmenting the African Union’s 7,000-strong monitoring operation, said UN Undersecretary-General Jean-Marie Guehenno.
<B>LONDON. Consecration of gay bishops. </B>The leader of the world’s 77 million Anglicans, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, has said the worldwide church may have to split to end a bitter row over the consecration of gay bishops. In a move which analysts say will effectively exclude Americans from the global Anglican communion, Williams proposed churches should be asked to sign a formal covenant, allowing some to be fuller members of the communion than others.
PRAGUE. Czech Prime Minister resigns. </B>Leftist Czech Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek said he will resign after an extraordinary government meeting on July 3, a step that will allow the country to move out of an election stalemate. Paroubek’s resignation will automatically trigger the fall of his government and allow President Vaclav Klaus to name rightist Civic Democrat leader Mirek Topolanek as the new prime minister after his party won a June 2-3 election. Topolanek holds only 100 seats in the 200-seat parliament.
BAGHDAD. Iraq accuses al Quaeda militants. </B>Iraq accused al Qaeda militants in Iraq, including four Saudis, for the February 22 bombing of a Shi’ite shrine that pushed the country to the brink of civil war. National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie said Iraqi Haitham al-Badri, the al Qaeda leader in Salahaddin province, masterminded the attack.
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