African force says troop level adequate

KHARTOUM -- The head of the African Union said yesterday that non-African troops would not be needed for the new Darfur peacekeeping force in Sudan because countries on the continent had committed enough soldiers. The Sudanese government is adamantly opposed to non-Africans playing any major role in the hybrid UN-African Union operation that was authorized by the UN Security Council on July 31 and will be made up of 20,000 peacekeepers and 6,000 civilian police. The comments from AU chairman Alpha Oumar Konare appeared to contradict statements made by the US envoy to Sudan, Andrew Natsios, that the government in Khartoum would have to accept non-African troops in the beefed-up force because the continent does not have enough trained soldiers to fully staff the peacekeeping contingent. (AP)

italy

CASTIGLION DELLA PESCAIA -- The Italian prime minister, Romano Prodi, said there was a need for dialogue with Hamas to help the Palestinian Islamist group develop politically. The United States and the European Union describe Hamas, which has led a Palestinian uprising against Israel for almost seven years, as a terrorist group. "Hamas exists. It's a complex structure that we should help to evolve -- but this should be done with transparency," Prodi said at a conference in central Italy. "One must push for dialogue so that it happens, and not shut anyone out of dialogue." (Reuters)

VENICE -- For the first time in more than 70 years, there will soon be a new way to cross the famous Grand Canal in the lagoon city of Venice. After delays, cost overruns and plenty of complaints, the main, 270-ton stretch of the modern-looking, glass-and-steel "Calatrava bridge" was installed over the weekend. The bridge is only the fourth across the Grand Canal, Venice's main waterway, and connects the city's Santa Lucia train station to Piazzale Roma, which was once more difficult to reach. (Reuters)

iran

TEHRAN -- Iran's oil minister, Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh, stepped down yesterday, plunging the administration of the world's fourth-largest oil-producing operation back into the uncertainty that has shadowed it under the leadership of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Hamaneh, a veteran Oil Ministry employee, was confirmed to the post by Parliament in December 2005 after the Iranian president unsuccessfully nominated three relatively inexperienced candidates, including a former Revolutionary Guards commander. (Los Angeles Times)

guatemala

GUATEMALA CITY -- Authorities searched an adoption home run by an American man and his Guatemalan wife and rescued 46 children they believe may have been stolen or coerced from their parents, police said yesterday. Guatemalan National Police spokesman Carlos Calju said the children, ranging in age from a few days to 3 years old, were found Saturday at the Casa Quivira children's home in Antigua. Calju said Casa Quivira is run by Clifford Phillips of Deland, Fla., and his wife, Sandra Gonzalez. (AP)