Chile: Bush dinner axed citing security
SANTIAGO, Chile, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Sunday's state dinner for President Bush, in Chile for a summit, was cancelled after Chilean authorities refused to grant certain U.S. security demands.
Bush's security team wanted more than 230 guests to pass through a metal detector. Chilean officials, including President Ricardo Lagos, said such a measure would be humiliating for guests that would include world leaders.
Instead of a large formal dinner Bush will attend a smaller affair in the Chilean president's private dining room.
Security matters took the spotlight during the weekend Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, a meeting of 21 nations that border the Pacific Ocean, when Bush personally broke up a Saturday night melee between a Secret Service agent and a Chilean security detail.
A Chilean security officer tried to prevent the Secret Service agent from accompanying Bush to the official dinner of the APEC summit on Saturday
"You're not stopping me! You're not stopping me!" yelled the agent, as taped by several television cameras. "I'm with the president."
A shoving match ensued in which Bush interjected himself, pulling the agent away from the fracas.
White House officials attempted to downplay the incident saying it wouldn't harm U.S.-Chilean relations.
Larsen: stability needed fo ME peace
GAZA, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- The United Nations special envoy to the Middle East said Sunday the Middle East needs stability in order to revive the peace process.
"What we need now is a stabilization package, a stabilization program leading to the Palestinian elections," Terje Roed-Larsen told reporters in Ramallah after meeting Palestinian Premier Ahmed Qureia.
Israel, the Palestinians and the international community must all contribute to the "stabilization package", he said.
"We now see eye to eye on all issues as related to what should happen in what we both hope will be a revived peace process," he said.
Palestinian Presidential elections, to choose a successor to the late Yasser Arafat, are to take place Jan. 9.
Larsen said the United Nations would raise the points he discussed with Qureia Monday during a meeting of the Quartet -- the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations -- at the Egyptian resort of Sharm a-Sheikh.
German tourists in Algeria found unharmed
ALGIERS, Algeria, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Algeria's interior ministry said Sunday five German tourists who vanished in the desert have been found alive and in good health.
The ministry said a massive search and rescue effort resulted in locating the Germans who had been missing since Wednesday in the Illizi desert.
Officials said the Germans will be prosecuted for allegedly violating laws that govern the movement of tourists in the Algerian desert area of al-Tassili and of stealing its antiquities.
The Germans apparently left their local tour guide and may have gone into the al-Tassili desert that is rich with rare historic antiquities.
The government had feared the tourists might have been abducted by extremist Islamic groups. Early last year, 32 European tourists were kidnapped by extremists from the Salafi Group for Daawa and Fighting, who released them only after a German ransom was paid.
Locusts hit southern Israel
TEL AVIV, Israel, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Huge swarms of locusts Sunday landed in southern Israel from the northern Negev to Eilat.
Swarms landed also near two Dead Sea hotels, the Haaretz newspaper reported.
Uri Naamati, the head of the Eshkol regional council that is near the Gaza, told the Maariv newspaper the locusts "ate the leaves of entire trees. We're quite in panic because this is Israel's most important agricultural area."
The Haaretz newspaper reported "growing concern that the locusts, which flew in from Egypt, will destroy thousands of shekels worth of crops."
Thus farmers were spraying the insects with pesticides and crop dusters sprayed them from the air.
An anticipated drop in temperatures could also affect the locusts, Haaretz said.
Locusts prefer to stay on the ground if the air cools substantially so it would be easy to spray them with pesticide.
