New asset freeze in terror fight

united states
WASHINGTON -- President Bush yesterday ordered a freeze on the US assets of anyone Washington deems to be undermining Lebanon's pro-Western government. The Bush administration did not identify those targeted by the decree, but the order occurs just a month after Bush imposed a US travel ban on Syrian officials and Lebanese politicians whom the United States accuses of fomenting instability in Lebanon. The State Department said that Iranian interests could also be affected by Bush's latest order. The move follows repeated US calls for Damascus to stop meddling in Lebanon, where Washington is trying to bolster the embattled government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. (AP)

uganda

An outbreak of the Ebola-like Marburg virus at a remote Ugandan mine has killed one person and possibly infected several others, a World Health Organization spokesman said yesterday. But the organization is optimistic the outbreak of the rare hemorrhagic virus might be relatively contained. No new cases have been reported for more than two weeks. The Marburg virus has a death rate that can be higher than 90 percent. There is no treatment and no vaccine. Uganda, which had not seen a Marburg outbreak for 30 years, sent a rapid response team to the field, including officials from the World Health Organization's Africa offices. (AP)

libya

TRIPOLI -- Libya signed contracts with French firms worth a total of $402 million yesterday for the supply of military equipment, a Libyan source said. One deal was for Milan antitank missiles, the other for communications systems, the source said. The deals were the first arms contracts to be signed with a Western country since the 2004 lifting of an international weapons embargo on Libya. (Reuters)