Pope calls for peace in meeting with Cheney

Pope calls for peacein meeting with Cheney
VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II, a staunch opponent of the war in Iraq, greeted Vice President Dick Cheney today with a message calling for international cooperation and peace.
"I encourage you and your fellow citizens to work at home and abroad for the growth of international cooperation. ... The American people have always cherished the fundamentals values of freedom, justice and equity," the pope told Cheney, an architect of the war.
The hand of the pontiff, who suffers from Parkinson's, trembled as he read the short greeting.
Cheney, who was seated on his right, presented the pope with a dove made of glass, which the pontiff stroked with his hand.
He gave Cheney a set of 20 silver medals with reproductions of masterpieces from the Vatican and presented Mrs. Cheney and daughter Liz silver rosaries and medals of the Pontificate.
Guerrilla leader suesIsrael, alleging abuse
TEL AVIV, Israel -- A Lebanese guerrilla leader to be released in a large-scale prisoner swap this week accused Israel of mistreating prisoners as he made a rare court appearance today in a civil suit he brought against the government.
Mustafa Dirani, who was seized by Israeli troops from his home in south Lebanon in 1994, seeks $1.3 million in damages, saying he was sexually abused and raped by interrogators.
Dirani and another guerrilla chief, Abdel Karim Obeid, were kidnapped as bargaining chips for Ron Arad, an Israeli airman shot down over Lebanon in 1986.
Dirani held Arad in the first two years, and reportedly sold the airman to Iran in 1988, a claim he denied today.
"It's a lie that I sent him [Arad] to Iran," Dirani, wearing a brown prison uniform, said as he waited for the proceedings to begin. "What I did with Arad was humane, but Israel didn't understand that ... Israel is the one that tortures prisoners, not us."
The Israeli government had no immediate comment on Dirani's accusations, but an attorney for the state was expected to respond in an afternoon court session.
Contact with hostage
BUCKEYE, Ariz. -- A prison guard held hostage inside a watch tower by a pair of inmates sent a message that she is alive in her latest contact with authorities.
The wellness check Monday was done by either radio or telephone and negotiators heard the guard's voice, said Ivan Bartos, the Yuma prison warden who has been assisting Department of Corrections officials.
No other details were immediately available.
The voice contact was at least the fourth time negotiators have spoken with the officer over the course of the ordeal at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis west of Phoenix.
Two guards at the prison were taken prisoner Jan. 18 and forced into a watchtower. A male guard was released Saturday. Officials have declined to identify the inmates and the guards or to say what the inmates are demanding.
Investigation of governor
HARTFORD, Conn. -- State lawmakers voted unanimously to form a committee that will investigate the governor and recommend whether impeachment is warranted, with one lawmaker saying "we must get the truth so the public's faith in our government will be restored."
The House bipartisan committee will be the first in state history to investigate a sitting governor. The resolution creating the committee was adopted Monday in a special session, 140-0, with 11 members absent.
"We have a duty to our constituents and all the people of this great state," said House Majority Leader James Amann, a Democrat. "To us falls the responsibility of maintaining their faith in government."
Gov. John G. Rowland, a Republican, is under fire for accepting gifts and free work on his Litchfield vacation cottage from politically connected friends, state employees and a state contractor. He has said he never returned the favors and has apologized several times for lying about the gifts.
Nurse faces more charges
FORT WORTH, Texas -- A former nurse accused of killing four elderly patients was indicted Monday on charges of killing six other people and injuring a disabled man in her care.
Vickie Dawn Carson Jackson was indicted on three counts of capital murder, one count of attempted murder and one count of injury to a disabled person.
Defense attorney Bruce Martin said his client will plead innocent to the charges. The former nurse has not commented publicly on any of the deaths, which prosecutors say resulted from injections of a paralyzing drug.
Under Texas law, a defendant can be charged with capital murder if two or more people are killed during a crime. In the new indictment, Jackson is accused of killing two people on each of three occasions in 2000-2001.
Associated Press