Spain, Japan vow to continue in Iraq
MADRID, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Spain and Japan, after suffering causalities in Iraq, vowed to keep up their reconstruction efforts there, the BBC reported Sunday.
Spain's prime minister said his country will keep 1,300 troops in Iraq despite the "great pain" caused by the killing of seven Spanish intelligence agents Saturday in an ambush.
"The seven lost their lives doing their duty as professional soldiers, good soldiers working for peace and security," said Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, a key European member of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. "Freedom is under threat from the terrorists."
Japan, which lost two diplomats in a separate ambush near Tikrit, also pledged "not to give in to terrorism" and to maintain its efforts in humanitarian aid and reconstruction.
"Why does this kind of thing happen?" Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said in Tokyo. "I am furious."
Egypt's opposition to boycott by-elections
CAIRO, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Two of Egypt's powerful opposition groups, the banned Muslim Brotherhood and al-Wafd Party, said Sunday they plan to boycott the by-election.
The by-election is set to vote for 20 new members in the 454-seat Egyptian National Assembly.
A Muslim Brotherhood leader, Issam al-Iryan, told United Press International that his movement did not intend on fielding candidates because it did not believe "there is a real democratic opportunity because of the government's control over these elections."
Al-Wafd Party also announced Sunday it did not intend to participate in the by-election because it did not recognize the "legitimacy of the polls to be conducted in these districts." It accused the ruling National Democratic Party of trying to "control" the constituencies.
The by-election would fill seats left by four deaths and the resignation of 16 legislators after the government nullified their membership on the grounds that they dodged the military draft.
The opposition parties accused the government of forcing the resignations without a vote in the National Assembly with the aim of preventing opposition candidates from fielding their candidates and allowing the ruling party a greater opportunity to win seats.
The Muslim Brotherhood, although officially banned in Egypt, occupies 17 seats, while al-Wafd has only three in a National Assembly that is dominated by the ruling party.
Pakistan set to end ban on India flights
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- In a sign of thawing relations, Pakistan is set to end its ban on flights from India over its territory, the BBC reported Sunday.
President Pervez Musharraf said the policy change was a gesture of goodwill that would be confirmed Monday.
The action comes days after the two countries agreed to a cease-fire along the line of control in disputed Kashmir that, 18 months ago, nearly had India and Pakistan at war.
Musharraf said Pakistan was sincere in its efforts for peace in the region, and he hoped the thaw in relations would lead to further resolution of all disputes between them, but he stressed that Pakistan tied peace to "honour, dignity and sovereign equality," the BBC said.
The two nations severed air links after the December 2001 attack on India's Parliament, which India blamed on Pakistan-backed Kashmir separatists.
Palestinians scuffle with peace signers
RAFAH, Gaza, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- A scuffle broke out in Gaza among Palestinians, some who were heading to Geneva to sign an unofficial peace accord with Israelis.
Eyewitnesses said fighting broke out at the Rafah crossing with Egypt, south of the Gaza Strip, when an angry crowd began hurling insults at the Palestinians scheduled to take part in the signing ceremony in Geneva Monday, calling them "traitors."
The fighting came as national and Islamic groups in Rafah organized a rally to protest the Geneva agreement.
Protesters called on the Palestinian Authority to stop all contacts with the Israelis and to reject the accord. They carried banners that said, "The return of refugees is a sacred right and is not up for negotiations," and chanted slogans against the Geneva accord.
The agreement, which is not binding, has drawn popular Palestinian anger because it suggests that the refugees, who fled their homes in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war when the state of Israel was created, return to a future Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
