Iranian bombers arrested in Iraq
BAGHDAD, July 5 (UPI) -- Iraqi police Monday reportedly arrested two Iranian nationals driving a booby-trapped car they apparently planned to detonate in a Baghdad neighborhood.
Official Iraqi television said police arrested the men in the crowded neighborhood of al-Talibiya, in the eastern part of Baghdad.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiar Zibari has accused all Iraq's neighbors, including Iran, of facilitating the infiltration of Muslim militants into Iraq despite calls by the interim government to curb the traffic.
Zibari was quoted as saying "unfortunately terrorists were still converging on Iraq from those countries," in allusion to neighboring states, Iran, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
In another incident, Iraqi Interior Ministry Director-General Brig. Hussein Ali Kamal announced the arrests of four members of the defunct Baath party suspected of beheading U.S. hostage Nicholas Berg two months ago.
Polls close in Indonesia
JAKARTA, July 5 (UPI) -- Retired general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono appeared in the lead as polls closed in Indonesia's presidential election Monday, but a runoff is still expected.
Public opinion surveys show incumbent Megawati Sukarnoputri trailing behind Yudhoyono, a retired general and former security minister who resigned from Megawati's Cabinet months ago to seek her job.
But without 50 percent of the vote, Yudhoyono will face a Sept. 20 runoff with the second place candidate.
This was Indonesia's first direct presidential election, with more than 155 million eligible voters spread across 17,000 islands and three time zones. Previously, presidents were selected by the upper houses acting as an electoral college.
There are three other candidates, the strongest being General Wiranto, a former commander of the armed forces indicted by U.N. prosecutors in East Timor for crimes against humanity allegedly committed in 1999.
Megawati was the country's most popular politician following the 1998 ouster of President Suharto, who had ruled Indonesia since overthrowing Megawati's father Sukarno in 1966.
But Megawati's popularity has waned due to her failure to combat corruption or improve the economy, and her aloof image.
In contrast, ex-army general Yudhoyono is a polished operator who projects stability and reassurance.
Austrian president collapses; is critical
VIENNA, July 5 (UPI) -- Austria's 71-year-old President Thomas Klestil was hospitalized in critical condition Monday after suffering a heart stoppage in Vienna, the BBC reported.
Ambulance officials said the president's heart stopped at his home and he was resuscitated by his bodyguards. He was taken by helicopter to Vienna General Hospital, a government spokesman said.
Klestil suffered a severe bout of pneumonia in 1996, and his lung problems recently again became serious.
He is due to step down from his largely ceremonial role Thursday, having served two six-year terms. The job will go to Heinz Fischer.
Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel temporarily took over the presidential duties.
Austria's president has wide-ranging powers under the constitution to pick the chancellor, who runs the day-to-day affairs of government, and to dismiss a government he does not like.
However, no Austrian president has ever fired a government and traditionally the chancellor is, in effect, named by the largest party after parliament elections.
Cheney drops controversial physician
WASHINGTON, July 5 (UPI) -- U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney has dismissed his personal physician amid allegations of prescription abuses, the New Yorker magazine said Monday.
Internist Dr. Gary Malakoff was a member of Cheney's medical team for nine years.
The article quotes colleagues and sealed legal records from Malakoff's 2002 divorce, which include medical invoices and pharmacy records, as saying in 1999 he was placed into a program for impaired physicians, which required him to undergo monitoring.
Malakoff was relieved last month as chairman of George Washington University Medical Center's General Internal Medicine Division.
The article said that according to pharmacy records and customer invoices, Malakoff bought 76 bottles of a synthetic narcotic nasal spray called Stadol from two mail-order drug supply companies during a four-month period in 2000.
The magazine said that during the 2 1/2-year period ended in December 2001, Malakoff spent at least $46,238 to purchase Stadol online, as well as other medications, such as Xanax, Tylenol with codeine, and Ambien.
Kevin Kellems, Cheney's press secretary, would not comment about the reports, saying only Malakoff "is no longer a member of the team that treats the vice president."
