U.N. Security Council meets over Israeli attack

U.N. Security Council meets over Israeli attack

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council is meeting in emergency session at the request of the Palestinians and their Arab supporters who want the U.N.’s most powerful body to condemn the Israeli attack on Gaza and call for a cease-fire.

Council members met behind closed doors Saturday night, though the Arab League’s U.N. observer, Yahya Mahmassani, said its members want an open meeting to protest the Israeli attack.

It killed 54 Palestinians in the highest single day toll since fighting erupted in 2000.

Mahmassani told The Associated Press the Arabs are drafting a Security Council resolution that would condemn the killings and call for a cease-fire.

Such resolutions have failed repeatedly in the past because of U.S. and European objections that they are not balanced in their condemnation.

Russia begins voting for Putin’s successor

MOSCOW — After eight years of rule that saw Russia’s influence and wealth grow while its democratic freedoms shrank, voters in the Far East were the first in this vast nation to cast their ballots Sunday for President Vladimir Putin’s successor.

When the election is over and the votes are counted, a path almost certainly will be open for Putin to take a new and powerful role in the government of the man he has endorsed to take his place.

There is no significant opposition to Dmitry Medvedev, who says that if he wins he will ask Putin to become prime minister — an offer that Putin is sure to accept.

Medvedev has even based his platform on a vow to pursue “the Putin plan.”

President Bush meets with Danish prime minister

CRAWFORD, Texas — NATO’s changing role and the alliance’s fight against militants in Afghanistan were central issues confronting President Bush and Denmark’s prime minister in talks Saturday.

Bush and Anders Fogh Rasmussen scheduled a midday news conference at the president’s ranch.

The meeting with one of Bush’s favorite foreign leaders comes ahead of the NATO summit in April in Romania and as the U.S. presses NATO members to send more troops to Afghanistan and better coordinate nonmilitary aid.

The United States has 29,000 troops in Afghanistan, including 16,000 in the 44,000-strong NATO-led coalition, and an additional 13,000 training the Afghan forces and hunting al-Qaida and the Taliban.

2 dead after planes collide

TITUSVILLE, Fla. — Authorities say two people are dead after an experimental aircraft and another plane collided at a central Florida airport. Two others are injured.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Warren Woodberry says the planes collided early Saturday morning at Arthur Dunn Airport in Titusville. It was not immediately clear how the planes collided.

Titusville emergency rescue spokesman Scott Gaenicke says the planes were found off the runway in flames.

Gaenicke says two people with severe burns have been rescued from one aircraft and airlifted to an Orlando hospital. He says two occupants of the second plane are dead.

Ship built with steel from WTC christened

AVONDALE, La. — The USS New York, an amphibious assault ship built with scrap steel from the ruins of the World Trade Center, was christened Saturday as a source of strength and inspiration for the nation.

Thousands of people, including friends and families of those who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, gathered near the hulking gray ship, trimmed in red, white and blue banners.

The bow stem, which contains 7.5 tons of steel from the site, bore a shield with two gray bars to symbolize the twin towers and a banner over that declaring “Never Forget,” a slogan among New Yorkers.

“May God bless this ship and all who sail on her,” ship sponsor Dotty England said before smashing a bottle of champagne against it, producing a loud thump to go with the spurting liquid and flying streamers.

Story after story of lives lost in, and touched by, the attacks peppered the ceremony, held under the blazing sun and broadcast on large screens. It all brought back painful memories for New York Police Lt. Matt Murphy. But the reason for his being here, though, was a source of pride, he said.

Associated Press