World
"I've said as plainly as I can that we have no intention of invading North Korea," President Bush told reporters at the summit of Asian leaders in Bangkok, Thailand. But he said the US would explore with "our partners" other ways - perhaps a written statement - to "move the process forward" on the North Korean nuclear weapons issue. The North's leaders insist they need nuclear weapons to deter a US military invasion. Meanwhile, Bush apparently made no progress in persuading Chinese President Hu Jintao to stop undervaluing the yuan against the dollar, a practice that the US maintains puts American products at a sales disadvantage.
The sending of peacekeeping troops by Turkey to neighboring Iraq appeared more in doubt than ever after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said they wouldn't go "if not wanted." Iraq's interim Governing Council has said soldiers from any other country on its borders would be unwelcome. The leaders of Saudi Arabia and Pakis-tan agreed Sunday to wait for the "express opinion of the Iraqi people" before they contribute to a multinational peacekeeping mission there.
Calm returned to the streets of Bolivia's capital, and new President Carlos Mesa promised new national elections after a week of violent protests drove his predecessor to quit and flee the country. Mesa spent the weekend working to form what he said would be an interim government, although the ousted Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada's term runs through August 2007.
In a blunt warning to Venezuelans tempted to sign petitions calling for a referendum on his rule, President Hugo Chávez said, "Their names will be recorded forever." The elections commission last week gave organizers four days, beginning Nov. 28, to try to gather 2.4 million signatures. Signers also must place their identification numbers and fingerprints on the petitions. Chávez's opponents accused him of using intimidation tactics, especially against government and other public-sector employees.
One of the largest throngs in Vatican history gathered Sunday to watch Pope John Paul II be-atify Mother Teresa, the last step below sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church for the late Nobel Peace Prize-winner. Officials estimated the crowd in St. Peter's Square at 300,000 people. Earlier, the pontiff celebrated his 25th anniversary in office by announcing that despite illness, he intended to serve "as long as God wants."
Alija Izetbegovic, who passed on Sunday in Sarajevo, led the Muslims of Bosnia-Herzegovina through the 1992-1995 war for independence from Yugoslavia and went on to become copresident of the republic. He retired from political life three years ago due to ill health.
