Iraq vote ban stokes tensions
Protesters denounce Baath Party loyalists
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BAGHDAD — Hundreds of protesters denounced Iraqis still loyal to Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party on Sunday as tensions soared over the decision to blacklist suspected Baathists from next month’s election. Protesters chanted and carried signs that said, “No, no to Baath Party!” and “The return of the Baath Party is a return to mass graves.”
Shiite officials, including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his political allies, are trying to purge all high-level posts of Iraqis with ties to the Baath Party, which was outlawed in Iraq in 2003.
A decision to ban about 450 candidates from March 7 parliamentary elections because of suspected ties to Saddam’s regime has threatened to reopen wounds between once-dominant Sunnis and the Shiite majority.
The ban is widely seen as targeting Sunnis, though Shiites are on the blacklist as well. Some Sunni leaders have threatened to boycott the election if the purge stands. That, in turn, risks throwing the election into chaos and would raise questions about its credibility.
Parliament met briefly Sunday but did not take action on the ban, which was suspended by an appeals court. Lawmakers are expected to meet again Monday as a panel of judges combs through the list.
Ali Al-Lami, executive director of a vetting panel that initially purged suspected Baathists from the ballot, said a judicial appeals court ruled Sunday to uphold the ban in 26 cases so far. None of the cases were of high-profile candidates.
Sunnis, who led the country under Saddam, boycotted a critical first nationwide vote in January 2005, resulting in a Shiite-dominated government. Resentment over that loss contributed to the country’s deadly insurgency.
In a closed meeting Saturday, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani warned that Baathists might try to “launch a military coup,” according to a member of Talabani’s party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. The party member asked that his name not be used because he is not authorized to speak publicly.
Australia marks anniversary of killer wildfires
MELBOURNE, Australia — Lighting candles and releasing butterflies to honor the dead, Australians marked the first anniversary of the country’s worst-ever wildfires Sunday in big-city cathedrals and small towns still bearing burn scars. On Feb. 7 last year, hundreds of fires raged across southeastern Australia as temperatures soared and powerful winds whipped blazes into firestorms. In a single day, 173 people were killed and more than 2,000 homes razed.
NATION
Clouds delay launchof shuttle Endeavour
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Clouds prevented space shuttle Endeavour from blasting off Sunday on the last planned nighttime shuttle launch, delaying its trip with a final few building blocks for the International Space Station.
The band of low clouds started moving in from the north late Saturday. NASA counted down to the nine-minute mark, but the sky remained overcast, offering little hope of a lucky break.
NASA managers said they would try again Monday, when slightly better conditions were expected.
Endeavour is loaded with a new room for the space station, as well as an observation deck. Once they are installed, the orbiting complex will be 98 percent complete.
Launch time on Monday was scheduled for 4:14 a.m.
Colo. crash investigated
BOULDER, Colo. — Investigators plan to talk to other pilots to determine whether they heard any communications between two small planes before an in-flight collision in Colorado killed all three people on board both planes.
The Boulder County Coroner’s Office said Sunday that 25-year-old Alexander Howard Gilmer of Evergreen, Colo., was the pilot of a Piper Pawnee aircraft that was towing a glider when a Cirrus SR-20 collided with it Saturday afternoon. The coroner’s office tentatively identified the pilot of the Cirrus as 58-year-old Robert Matthews of Boulder, and the passenger as 56-year-old Mark Matthews of Englewood, Colo.
The pilot of the glider was able to cut loose just before the collision and fly to safety.
WORLD
Israel said to arrest 2 foreigners in West Bank
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israeli troops broke down the door of an apartment in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Sunday and arrested two pro-Palestinian activists from Spain and Australia, their roommate said.
The Israeli military said the two women overstayed their visas, but also alleged they were involved in violent protests in the West Bank. Their lawyer, Omer Shatz, said he believes the pair were targeted for what he described as peaceful protests against Israeli policies in the West Bank.
The two women are members of the International Solidarity Movement, which has been active in the Palestinian territories for several years.
Shatz said the women were in detention but that a judge issued an order preventing their deportation. He identified them as Ariadna Jove Marti, 25, of Spain, and Bridgette Chappell, 21, of Australia.
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Black box recovered
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s marine commandos on Sunday recovered the black box of the Ethiopian Airlines jet that crashed into the Mediterranean last month, the Lebanese army said in a statement.
The Boeing 737 crashed Jan. 25 minutes after takeoff from Beirut during a fierce thunderstorm. All 90 people on board are believed to have died.
The Lebanese military also said that eight more bodies were recovered Sunday, raising the number of bodies retrieved since the crash to 23.
Passenger jets carry two black boxes — a data flight recorder and a cockpit voice recorder. They are commonly referred to as simply “the black box.” The two are usually located in the rear of a plane, the area most likely to survive a crash intact.
6.6 quake shakes Japan
TOKYO — A strong earthquake shook several small islands off Japan’s southern coast Sunday, rattling buildings more than 100 miles away in Taiwan and causing officials to issue a tsunami warning.
There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
Japan’s Meteorological Agency said the earthquake hit at 3:10 p.m. local time and registered magnitude 6.6. The U.S. Geological Survey measured it at 6.4.
Japanese officials immediately issued a warning for a tsunami about 1.6 feet high, but removed the warning about an hour later.
THE NUMBER: 17
Hours a skier spent buried in the snow after an avalanche in the Swiss Alps before being rescued having only mild hypothermia, police said Sunday. The 21-year-old man appeared to have survived because he was trapped next to a pocket of air that allowed him to breathe even though he was unable to free himself from the crushing weight of the snow, police in Valais said.
“I’ve never heard of such a case before,” said police spokesman Jean-Marie Bornet. “It’s already very difficult to survive more than 45 minutes beneath an avalanche.”