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In brief
All 155 dead in Brazil plane crash</B>
Authorities said there were no survivors among the 155 people aboard the Brazilian jetliner that crashed deep in the Amazon jungle in the nation’s worst air disaster, as rescue workers began pulling bodies out of the twisted wreckage. Aviation officials have said the Boeing 737-800 and a smaller executive jet apparently clipped each other in midair Friday, causing Gol airlines Flight 1907 to crash in jungle so dense that crews had to cut down trees to clear a space for rescue helicopters to land. The smaller plane – carrying Americans – safely landed at a nearby air force base. About 30 Brazilian air force troops were at the site late Sunday looking for more bodies.The list of passengers on the commercial jet was not released, and it wasn’t clear if any foreigners were aboard. Authorities have not given a definitive cause for the crash, and the investigation was continuing.
<B>Tensions flare in Gaza despite appeals for calm </B>
Protesters loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah stoned the home of a minister in the rival Hamas-led government yesterday, fuelling fears of escalating violence despite appeals for calm from both sides. Hamas guards outside the home of Refugees Minister Atef Odwan of Hamas fired into the air to clear the crowd, the latest in a wave of pro-Fatah protests over unpaid wages and stalled talks on a unity government. Nine people were killed on Sunday in clashes between forces loyal to Hamas and those loyal to Fatah in the worst internal fighting in months in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.
Iran gives no sign of nuclear suspension yet </B>
Iran has said nothing so far to suggest it plans to suspend uranium enrichment, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday. Speaking to reporters as she flew to the Middle East, Rice said the foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany might meet later this week to discuss Iran’s nuclear programme. The Security Council has threatened to impose sanctions on Iran if it fails to suspend its enrichment of uranium.
Chavez says he has White House informant</B>
Venezuela President Hugo Chavez said Sunday he has received warnings from within the White House that the Bush administration is plotting to assassinate him or topple his left-leaning governmentCiting what he said were warnings from an alleged White House informant, Chavez told thousands of supporters at a campaign rally that President Bush has ordered him to be killed before he leaves office in 2008. Bush “has said that before he goes, Hugo Chavez shouldn’t be the president of Venezuela,” Chavez told the crowd. “The president of the United States has said it, especially in recent days. What he doesn’t know is that I have friends in the White House.”
The Venezuelan leader has claimed before that the US government is out to kill him – allegations that US officials deny.The latest accusation came a day after he alleged that there had been a recent attempt to assassinate him and said those responsible had since fled to neighboring Colombia.
Video shows hijackers a year before 9/11</B>
A new videotape shows two of the September 11 hijackers smiling for a camera and reportedly reading a will in footage taken more than 18 months before they carried out the worst terrorist attack on US soil Mohamed Atta and Ziad Jarrah look much different in the tape than they do in photographs made famous after the attacks in New York and Washington.
Both seem younger, are bearded, and the infamously bleak gaze of Atta, the ringleader of the attacks five years ago, is replaced by a somewhat softer expression. Osama bin Laden also appears on the tape, speaking to a large group of people in January 2000.
<B>In shadow of scandals, Brazil’s Lula faces run-off </B>
Battered by a string of political scandals, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva squandered what seemed to be a sure first-round election victory and now must face a run-off vote against an energized opposition candidate. Lula, Brazil’s first working-class president, fell just short of the 50 percent of votes he needed to win another four-year term outright in Sunday’s election, setting up a showdown with his main rival Geraldo Alckmin on October 29. Alckmin, who campaigned as a squeaky-clean alternative to the scandal-plagued Lula, oozed confidence after the final results came in before dawn yesterday.
Russia, Georgia leaders clash over spy row </B>
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has dismissed sharp words by Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying Moscow was unlikely to use force to free four Russian officers whose arrest for spying has sparked a crisis. Putin, in unusually harsh remarks, accused Georgia of “state terrorism with hostage-taking” by arresting the Russian army officers last week and charging them with spying. The arrests have provoked the most serious crisis between pro-Western Georgia and its giant former Soviet master in years.
Russia has withdrawn its ambassador and dozens of officials from Tbilisi and stopped issuing visas to Georgians.
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