Fuel supply shortage adds to West Bank crisis

Fuel supply shortageadds to West Bank crisis
NABLUS, West Bank -- Palestinian gas stations started shutting down and motorists lined up at pumps after an Israeli fuel company cut off deliveries Wednesday, deepening the humanitarian crisis following Hamas' rise to power. An end to fuel supplies for the West Bank and Gaza could cripple hospitals, halt food deliveries and keep people home from work -- a devastating scenario for an economy already ravaged by Israeli and international sanctions. The Israeli company Dor Energy, the sole fuel provider to the Palestinians since interim peace agreements in the mid-1990s, cited growing debts for its decision, Palestinian officials said. Dor declined comment, but the company had threatened to cut off supplies twice before this year, only to be paid at the last minute by the Palestinians. Asaf Shariv, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said Israel would "absolutely not" bail out the Palestinians. Shariv said that since the Palestinian government resells gasoline to consumers, there is no reason for it not to have money to pay its debts.
Iranian leader not worried
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Iran's president accused Western powers today of double standards in their campaign against his country's nuclear program, and declared the threat of sanctions don't worry him. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made his comments after key U.N. Security Council members agreed to present Tehran with a choice of incentives or sanctions in deciding whether to suspend uranium enrichment. Iranian leader told Metro TV station in an interview that he was unconcerned about talk of sanctions and said he was ready to negotiate with any country to resolve the dispute. "If someone points an arm [a weapon] at your face and says you must speak, will you do that?," he said.
Blast at fireworks shopin Mexico kills one man
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico -- An explosion at a clandestine fireworks shop in the border city of Ciudad Juarez on Wednesday killed a 29-year-old man and wounded seven other people as it blew out windows in a four-block area. The business also housed a flower shop, and would reportedly send out deliveries of fireworks in trucks marked with the flower-shop logo. The injured included an 8-year-old girl; most of the victims were reported in serious condition at local hospitals.
Chirac urges France to face darkness of past
PARIS -- France honored victims of the slave trade Wednesday with a national day of concerts, school lessons, Louvre exhibits and ceremonies in a trading port that grew rich from New World slave plantations. President Jacques Chirac, marking the first annual commemoration day, urged France to confront the dark chapters of its history, 158 years after it abolished the practice of traders seizing Africans to toil in Caribbean colonies.
A deal in Puerto Rico
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Puerto Rican officials have reached an agreement to end a partial government shutdown that put more than 95,000 people out of work and closed schools, the governor said Wednesday. Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila said that he and the leaders of the Puerto Rican Senate and House of Representatives had agreed to accept the recommendations of a special commission created to end a budget impasse that crippled government services and hurt business in this U.S. territory.
Domain for porn rejected
NEW YORK -- Faced with opposition from conservative groups and some pornography Web sites, the Internet's key oversight agency voted Wednesday to reject a proposal to create a red-light district on the Internet. The decision from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers reverses its preliminary approval last June to create a ".xxx" domain name for voluntary use by the adult entertainment industry. ICANN had postponed making a final decision in August after the U.S. government stepped in just days before a scheduled meeting to underscore objections it had received. ICANN's rejection ends, for now, a 6-year-old effort by ICM Registry Inc. of Jupiter, Fla., to establish a domain for the porn industry.
Associated Press