Mideast peace talks move to Maryland
WASHINGTON, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- Hundreds of delegates to Middle East peace talks from more than 40 countries traveled Tuesday from Washington to Annapolis, Md., for a second day of talks.
Monday, U.S. President George Bush held private talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and Tuesday morning at the U.S. Naval Academy campus, Bush was to give a speech to the delegates.
Various delegations were scheduled to make speeches throughout the afternoon in sessions moderated by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The Bush administration's goal is that the conference will lead to final status talks on such divisive issues such as partitioning Jerusalem, Israeli borders and the status of Palestinian refugees, CNN reported.
The U.S. conference is a major return of U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East after seven years in which the administration focused largely on what it calls the global war on terrorism, the Baltimore Sun said.
Suicide bombing kills two in Kabul
KABUL, Afghanistan, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- A suicide bomber and a second person died in an attack on U.S. contractor SUVs Tuesday in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Kabul police told CNN four others were wounded in the attack but there were no American casualties. The CNN report said Afghanistan's notorious war lord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's anti-government group Hezb-i-Islami claimed responsibility for the attack.
The early morning blast occurred near the U.S. embassy in Kabul's upscale Wazir Akhbar Khan neighborhood, the report said.
In July, Hekmatyar, who helped end the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, reportedly called on all Islamic fighters, including the Taliban, to stop bomb attacks against civilians and religious leaders.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, the war lord has turned against both Pakistan and the United States.
The report said Hekmatyar is among those being sought to join the government to ensure peace in the country. However, he may not have completely abandoned his warlord ways, issuing statements like "Long live the mujahedin and death to the enemies of Islam."
Quake hits storm-battered Philippines
MANILA, Philippines, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- A meeting in Manila to discuss emergency response to two typhoons buffeting the Philippines was evacuated Tuesday when a magnitude 4 earthquake hit.
Filipino President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Cabinet ministers and civil defense officials were discussing typhoons Hagibis and Mitag, which together have killed at least 25 people since the weekend, the Pacific News Center reported.
There were no immediate reports of major damage from the earthquake, which geologists said was centered 50 miles northwest of Lingayen.
Meanwhile, emergency officials said there were 23 people reported missing as a result of the two typhoons and said some 360,000 people had been affected by the winds, rain and flooding.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said Mitag had weakened to a tropical storm after making landfall in northern Luzon, and said Hagibis would likely reintensify to typhoon status before leaving the country Thursday.
A third storm was expected to come ashore within days, forecasters said.
Protesters disrupt Oxford Union forum
OXFORD, England, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- Protesters in Britain disrupted a forum at the Oxford Union featuring a far-right politician and a historian who calls the Holocaust a myth.
As many as 300 protesters rallied outside the 184-year-old debating society while about 50 forced their way in to delay the forum's start, the BBC reported Tuesday.
The protesters, primarily students at Oxford, were angry over the debating society's invitation to Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party, and David Irving, a historian specializing in Nazi Germany.
Griffin, who arrived Monday surrounded by Skinheads for protection, was acquitted earlier this year of inciting hatred against British Muslims, while Irving was released last year after serving 13 months in prison in Austria for speeches denying the extermination of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
Griffin and Irving spoke Monday in separate rooms of the Union while protesters outside argued over whether the Union was upholding free speech or giving a platform to fascists, the BBC reported.
Redskins' Taylor dies of bullet wound
MIAMI, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- Washington Redskins defensive back Sean Taylor died early Tuesday in Miami, a day after being shot in the upper leg during a break-in at his home.
His attorney, Richard Sharpstein, told the Miami Herald trauma surgeons at Jackson Memorial Hospital were unable to save the 24-year-with surgery due to the massive amount of blood he lost.
Miami-Dade police were called at 1:45 a.m. Monday to Taylor's home in Palmetto Bay. His girlfriend and baby daughter were in the same bedroom with him when the shooting occurred but weren't injured, the report said.
''Nothing was stolen. They shot at him and fled,'' Sharpstein said.
Taylor was chosen by the Redskins as the fifth pick overall in the National Football League's 2004 draft and signed a seven-year, $18 million contract after his junior year at the University of Miami.
Most recently, he was sidelined indefinitely Nov. 11 when he sprained his right knee against the Philadelphia Eagles.
