NORTH AFRICA

FORMER AMBASSADOR ASSAILS SUDAN AL-FASHER, Sudan – The former American ambassador to the United Nations visited a displaced persons camp in the troubled Darfur region yesterday and sharply criticized Sudan, the U.N., the American administration, and the international community for doing too little to stem the humanitarian crisis there. Richard Holbrooke, traveling with Senator Corzine, a Democrat of New Jersey, visited the Krinding camp near El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state. “What we have seen is very moving, very disturbing, and there is an enormous amount that needs to be done still in the humanitarian area and beyond that,” Mr. Holbrooke told reporters after the visit. The U.N. views Darfur as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The Sudanese government is under intense international pressure to restore calm across the swath of western Sudan where an 18-month insurgency has killed more than 30,000 people and driven more than 1 million from their homes. A 30-day deadline set by the U.N. for the Sudanese government to rein in Arab militiamen accused of the violence against black African farmers, or face penalties, expired Monday. – Associated Press

MIDDLE EAST

TURKISH TROOPS KILL 11 KURDISH REBELS ANKARA, Turkey – Turkish commandos killed 11 Kurds in three days of battles in the mountains bordering Iraq, one of the biggest offensives against the autonomy-seeking rebels in five years, authorities said yesterday. The government didn’t rule out bolstering its forces in northern Iraq. Two Turkish soldiers have also been killed in the fighting in southeastern Hakkari province, officials said. The offensive comes amid mounting rebel violence in overwhelmingly Kurdish southeastern Turkey. The foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, reiterated a call for America to take action against Turkish Kurdish rebel bases across the border in Iraq. “Of course, we expect international cooperation in this issue,” Mr. Gul told private NTV TV. “But we know how to deal with our enemy.” Asked whether Turkey would consider boosting forces in northern Iraq to fight Kurdish rebels, Mr. Gul said: “We would do whatever is necessary for our security.” Turkey already has 1,500 troops backed by tanks and other armor in northern Iraq to monitor rebel actions and prevent cross-border infiltrations. Governor Erdogan Gurbuz of the Hakkari province said two soldiers and 11 rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK, now known as KONGRA-GEL, were killed in the clashes that began Saturday. – Associated Press

LEBANON DERIDES INTERVENTION BEIRUT, Lebanon – Lebanon accused France and America yesterday of “blackmail” and trying to sour ties between Beirut and Damascus over Syria’s role in choosing the Lebanese president.

After what many saw as a Syrian-engineered move to change the Lebanese constitution in order to extend the term of current pro-Syrian President Lahoud, America and France said they were considering asking the U.N. Security Council to intervene.

They were looking at a resolution directing Syrian not interfere in Lebanese affairs, an American State Department official said Monday.

Syrian troops crossed into Lebanon in 1976 to help quell a year-old civil war which raged on for another 14 year. Those forces were drawn into the conflict and at the end of the civil war, Syria emerged as the main power broker, often mediating among feuding Lebanese leaders.

A draft resolution under discussion at the U.N. would demand that Syria withdraw its 20,000 troops from Lebanon. It also would reaffirm the council’s support for Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity. The resolution would further call for free and fair elections according to the Lebanese constitution and without foreign interference, according to council diplomats.

– Associated Press

NORTH AMERICA

FOX FACES PRESSURE ON ECONOMIC POLICIES MEXICO CITY -President Fox, a strong advocate for a free market, faces growing demands to return to old state-run economic polices as he prepares for his fourth state-of-the-nation address amid protests against two decades of economic reforms.

Unions, farmers, and supporters of the leftist Mexico City mayor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, plan to block roads and border crossings, walk off their jobs and march on Congress during Mr. Fox’s speech today, in what may be one of the most concerted nationwide protests in recent years.

Throngs of farmers demanding more subsidies began demonstrating outside government offices in the capital yesterday.

Protesters are also vowing to block Mr. Fox’s pension reform – almost the only economic change he’s been able to get through an opposition Congress – and head off other stalled plans to partially privatize the energy sector.

It’s a change from the early 1990s, when privatization, trade, and reform bills were implemented quickly though legislatures dominated by the president’s party and state-of-the-nation speeches were simply compilations of glowing macroeconomic figures. – Associated Press

WESTERN EUROPE

FOCUS ON RENEWED BELFAST POWER-SHARING DUBLIN, Ireland – Negotiations on reviving power-sharing in Northern Ireland, the dream of the 1998 peace accord, resume today on the 10th anniversary of an Irish Republican Army cease-fire.

The key, all sides agree, will be whether the outlawed IRA makes sufficient new peace commitments that persuade the Democratic Unionists, the dominant Protestant party, to cooperate with the IRA’s Sinn Fein party.

Such a marriage of extremes – long unthinkable in a British territory where Democratic Unionists still refuse to negotiate face to face with Sinn Fein leaders, much less shake their hands – is now openly discussed as possible.

This week’s Belfast negotiations are expected to pave the way for a high-pressure summit September 16-18 at Leeds Castle east of London. The prime ministers of Britain and Ireland, Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, who have devoted months to solving Northern Ireland, warn they have grown exasperated and may try a different approach unless Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionists cut a deal in September.

As in past junctures of peacemaking, surprise new IRA peace moves, particularly a resumption of disarmament, could tilt Protestant leaders toward the next stage of compromise. – Associated Press

PERSIAN GULF

IRAN CLAIMS ARREST OF NUCLEAR SPIES TEHRAN, Iran- Iran said yesterday it had arrested a group of spies, including several who passed the country’s nuclear secrets to the country’s foes, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. The intelligence minister, Ali Yunesi, did not name any of the arrested but said members of the Mujahedeen Khalq, an armed opposition group, were the main players in the spy operation. “The Intelligence Ministry has arrested several spies who were transferring Iran’s nuclear secrets out of the country,” IRNA quoted Mr. Yunesi as saying. He provided no other details. The Mujahedeen Khalq claim they were the first to report in August 2003 that Iran was secretly developing a uranium enrichment plant in Natanz, central Iran. But Tehran says it had informed the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, about the Natanz facility months earlier. The IAEA has confirmed Tehran’s version of events. In Paris, Shahin Gobadi, a spokesman for the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said that the individuals arrested had nothing to do with any disclosures made by the Iranian resistance. – Associated Press

SUSPECTED SAUDI TERRORIST KILLED RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Authorities in eastern Saudi Arabia have shot and killed a suspected Saudi terrorist and arrested four others, an Interior Ministry spokesman said yesterday. The incident occurred after an attack Monday on an American diplomatic car in the Red Sea port city of Jiddah. The car, carrying an American Marine and a Saudi driver, was shot at but no one was injured, according to the American Embassy and a Saudi security official. The announcement yesterday said security forces were searching two locations in the eastern city of Ihsa, when a car carrying four people passed a security checkpoint and drove toward the forces. The car was fired upon, killing one and wounding the three others, who were arrested. A fourth suspect was also arrested at a different location. American Consulate workers in Jiddah were advised to limit their movements pending further notice.