Russia stands down on missile battery
MOSCOW, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Russia will abandon its planned rocket battery in response to President Barack Obama's shelving of the U.S. missile defense shield in Europe, officials said.
Russian military sources said Moscow would table plans to both deploy truck-mounted Iskander missiles and locate nuclear-capable T-22 bombers in Kaliningrad, The Daily Telegraph in London reported Friday.
Kaliningrad borders the European Union countries of Poland and Lithuania. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had said the Iskander missiles could be used "if necessary" to "neutralize" the missile shield if it were built.
"Undoubtedly, Washington's cancellation of its missile defense facilities will not go unnoticed," the military official said. "The array of measures which were planned in response to the deployment of the missile defense sites in Europe will be frozen, and will possibly be completely canceled."
Obama Thursday said the United States would shelve the controversial missile shield and radar in favor of a land- and sea-based defense system.
The now-shelved missile system -- sought by former President George W. Bush -- would have placed a radar site in Poland and 10 interceptor missiles in the Czech Republic. Russian leaders said their country's national security was threatened by the system.
NATO head seeks thaw in Russia relations
BRUSSELS, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- NATO and Russia must set aside past mistrust and work together to meet 21st century security challenges, NATO's new secretary-general said Friday.
NATO leaders want Russia to be a "real stakeholder" in international security matters, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rassmussen said in his first major speech delivered at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
"We need Russia as a partner in resolving the great issues of our time," he said.
While a "time out" may have been helpful for both sides to rethink their relationship, "the international security environment does not wait for NATO and Russia to sort out their act. Quite simply, NATO-Russia cooperation is not a matter of choice -- it is a matter of necessity," Rassmussen said in remarks posted on NATO's Web site.
Rassmussen suggested the country and the military alliance focus on reinforcing cooperation, reviving the NATO-Russia Council and conducting a joint review of new security challenges.
"This new relationship will require a lot of hard work," he said. "But if we manage to get away from the reflex of assuming the worst about each other, and focus instead on our common interests, then we can make a genuine new beginning in our relationship -- in our own interest and that of the entire international community."
Israel proposes 9-month settlement freeze
JERUSALEM, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu agreed to a nine-month freeze on West Bank settlement construction, officials said Friday.
The accord, reported by Israel's Army radio, came during a meeting with U.S. Special Middle East Envoy George Mitchell, who is engaging in shuttle diplomacy between Israeli and Arab leaders to try to jump start stalled peace talks, The Jerusalem Post reported.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has maintained talks would resume only if Netanyahu declared a complete settlement freeze, something the prime minister made has not been inclined to do.
If a freeze means absolutely no new construction, then it "certainly won't be," Netanyahu said.
"There are 2,400 (housing) units that are currently being built, and another 500 that we approved. Do you want to call that a freeze? I don't call it a freeze, I call it a slowdown in building," Netanyahu said. "I am willing to do that to help the (diplomatic) process, and, in parallel, to preserve normal life of the residents."
Mitchell, in the region since Saturday, is trying to pave the way for a three-way meeting of Netanyahu, Abbas and U.S. President Barack Obama in New York next week during the U.N. General Assembly.
A senior Palestinian official said Palestinian leaders would hold fast to their demand for a total halt of Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank before talks can take place, Haaretz.com reported.
"There is no agreement yet with the Israeli side and no middle ground solution," Saeb Erekat said.
China vows ethnic separatism crackdown
BEIJING, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- The Communist Party of China vowed Friday to crack down on ethnic-related separatist activities.
A Beijing communique, issued as a key session of the CPC Central Committee ended, also promised massive in-depth and persistent educational campaigns on ethnic unity, the Xinhua news service reported.
The document said further it was of "great significance" to develop a socialist ethnic relationship of equality, unity, mutual assistance and harmony.
The action came after recent trouble in the strife-torn city of Urumqi where sometimes deadly protests reportedly inflamed ethnic enmity.
Armed fugitive sought in Illinois
CHICAGO, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Law enforcement officers were on the alert Friday for a gray Volkswagen believed to be driven by armed fugitive Robert Maday, authorities in Chicago said.
Maday, 39, escaped while being taken to court for sentencing after pleading guilty to six bank robberies in Chicago's Northwest suburbs.
A woman forced out of her vehicle at gunpoint in suburban Hoffman Estates identified him from photographs as the man who took her 2004 Jetta at 6:45 a.m., the Chicago Tribune reported.
ln his escape Thursday, Maday disarmed two Cook County state's attorney's officers, shed his shackles and left the officers handcuffed in a squad car.
Maday once vowed he would do anything to avoid ever going back to prison, the Arlington Heights (Ill.) Daily Herald reported.
He has served time in Florida and Pennsylvania for various crimes.
The U.S. Marshal's office said it considered Maday extremely dangerous.
Schwarzenegger faces prison plan deadline
SACRAMENTO, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has until midnight to submit a plan to federal judges on reducing state prison overcrowding by 40,000 inmates.
Observers believe he's likely to offer a mix of old and new ideas that reflect a reluctance to take direction from the court, The Los Angeles Times said Friday.
California has appealed the order to the U.S. Supreme Court, but cannot wait for action by the high court before meeting the deadline set by the three-judge panel.
The governor sought in vain to push a plan through the legislature that would have helped reduce the state budget and cut the prison population by nearly 40,000 as the judges had demanded.
The judges ruled that overcrowding in a prison system that holds nearly 170,000 inmates is causing inadequate medical and mental healthcare. Building new prisons, they said, "remains years away."
