World
A Palestinian terrorist exploded a bomb aboard a bus in Jerusalem Sunday, killing himself and seven other people. Dozens more were hurt. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which has close ties to Yasser Arafat. The attack came as the World Court in The Hague prepared to open hearings Monday on the legality of the security barrier Israel is erecting in the West Bank to keep out would-be terrorists.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan pledged to issue his much-anticipated report Monday on Iraq's political future - amid signs it will back the American position that a national election before June 30 isn't feasible. US administrator Paul Bremer said over the weekend that "technical problems [that] will take time to fix" make elections - which leading Shiite Muslims have insisted on - impractical for up to 15 more months.
Conservative Islamists appeared well on the way to winning back control of Iran's parliament as a result of the national election Friday, and government officials were claiming a turnout far higher than analysts had predicted. Even at 50.6 percent, however, the Interior Ministry's figure would be a record low. The turnout for the last previous parliamentary election, in 2000, officially was put at 67 percent.
Antigovernment rebels in Haiti refused to accept a deal under which embattled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide agreed to share power with his political rivals. The plan, presented by regional diplomats Saturday, calls for a new prime minister and for elections for a new parliament. But its prospects for success appeared highly uncertain. Aristide said he wouldn't negotiate with those behind the insurgency that has killed more than 60 people so far. The rebels, who were attacking the No. 2 city, Cap-Haitien, as the Monitor went to press, said Aristide must resign for there to be peace. Meanwhile, his political opponents - who are to deliver their response to the plan Monday - said Aristide has a history of failing to honor his promises.
Police were investigating reports that the leader of Zimbabwe's political opposition was beaten Saturday night as he rode through a town controlled by supporters of President Robert Mugabe. Early reports didn't say whether Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change was hurt. He is free on bail as he awaits trial for allegedly plotting Mugabe's ouster. In 1998, he survived an attempt by Mugabe supporters to throw him from a window of his 10th-floor office.
As many as 192 people were killed in a refugee camp in northern Uganda after it was overrun by rebel insurgents. The victims had fled their original homes because of the 17-year campaign against President Yoweri Museveni's government by the Lord's Resistance Army. The group is based in neighboring southern Sudan.
