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Colin Powell visits Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- The U.S. secretary of state arrived Friday in tsunami-stricken Sri Lanka amid fresh tensions between government and rebels over aid distribution.

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Colin Powell, in a continuation of his tour of devastated South Asian regions, first flew to the badly hit southern town of Galle, where U.S. Marines are to be based for relief operations, the BBC reported Friday.

He stressed that U.S. forces were on the island exclusively for humanitarian reasons.

Meanwhile, a row intensified over whether Colombo has given enough assistance to Tamils in former conflict areas affected by the tsunami. The United Nations expressed concern over the presence of government troops in welfare camps full of Tamil civilians.


Pentagon sending brass to Iraq in probe

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- A retired U.S. Army general is being sent to Iraq to conduct an unusual "open-ended" review of the military's entire Iraq policy.

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Gen. Gary E. Luck, a four-star general and senior adviser to Gen. Tommy R. Franks at his war-time headquarters in Qatar during the 2003 Iraq campaign, leaves for Iraq next week with a small team of specialists to assess how the war is going.

Donald Rumsfeld has given Luck an unusually broad mandate to evaluate the situation, the New York Times said Friday.

The newspaper said the reason for the trip was to analyze and seek solutions for the perceived failure of Iraqi police and soldiers to make progress replacing coalition forces.

Luck commanded the XVIII Airborne Corps in the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and is a revered figure among soldiers and a mentor to their officers.

He is expected to report back to the Pentagon in a few weeks.


ElBaradei wants five-year nuke moratorium

TOKYO, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- The head of the U.N. atomic watchdog agency has called for a five-year halt to building any uranium enrichment and nuclear reprocessing facilities.

Mohamed ElBaradei said a global freeze on construction for uranium enrichment and nuclear reprocessing would be discussed at a May conference in New York on the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the Ashai Shimbun news agency said.

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A five-year nuclear moratorium, he said, would be highly effective as it will put "some limitation on the right of every country to develop a full (nuclear) fuel cycle." He added that a global freeze could last for five years or "until we have completed our work on how we can have an international arrangement for the fuel cycle."

"We have enough capacity in the world for enrichment or reprocessing," said ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.


Black right-winger paid to push policy

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- The White House paid a conservative African-American broadcaster $240,000 to plug its No Child Left Behind policy, USA Today reported Friday.

Armstrong Williams was reportedly paid to promote President Bush's education reform policies and urge other black journalists to do likewise.

Under terms of the payment, Williams was "to regularly comment on NCLB during the course of his broadcasts" and interview Education Secretary Rod Paige for TV and radio spots that aired during the show in 2004, the newspaper said.

Williams, 45, defended the arrangement and his promotion of White House educational reforms as something "I wanted to do it because it's something I believe in."

A former aide to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Williams is one of the top black conservative voices in the nation. He hosts a nationally-syndicated TV and radio show, "The Right Side," and writes op-ed pieces for newspapers, including USA Today, while running a public relations firm, Graham Williams Group.

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Italian train crash leaves 14 dead

MODENA, Italy, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Two trains traveling through heavy fog in northern Italy collided Friday killing at least 14 people and injuring at least 50 others, the BBC reported.

A freight train traveling from Bologna to Verona hit a passenger train going in the opposite direction near the train station at Bolognina di Crevalcore, near Modena.

Bologna medical officials who had arrived at the scene said 14 people were confirmed dead and at least 50 injured, some critically.

A fire official said the area's dense fog could have contributed to the crash.

Officials were trying to determine the cause of the incident, and rescue workers were cutting through the tops of train cars to reach passengers.

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