U.S. to finance Korea nuke deal
President Bush yesterday indicated that he would spend $3.72 million to finance an international consortium charged with implementing a now-defunct 1994 antinuclear deal with North Korea.
Mr. Bush said in a memorandum to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell that the money, earmarked in 2003 spending bills, was vital to U.S. national security interests.
But the cash will cover “administrative expenses only” of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO), which represents the United States, European Union, South Korea and Japan.
The administration has requested no money for KEDO in its 2004 fiscal year budget.
BRAZIL
Media firm co-founder to be extradited
LOS ANGELES — Federal authorities in New York said yesterday that they have completed the extradition of Peter Paul, the co-founder of defunct online entertainment company Stan Lee Media, from Brazil to the United States to face conspiracy and securities fraud charges.
Mr. Paul left the United States in late 2000 or early 2001. He was arrested in Brazil in August 2001 and imprisoned. In July, the Brazilian Supreme Court ordered his return to the United States to face charges.
Mr. Paul and comic book icon Stan Lee created Stan Lee Media to capitalize on the dot-com boom and a surge in the popularity of animation Web sites.
SAUDI ARABIA
Prison fire kills 67 inmates
RIYADH — A fire killed 67 prisoners when it swept through a jail near the Saudi capital, Riyadh, yesterday, but officials said it was too early to determine the cause.
The official Saudi Press Agency quoted the head of prison affairs at the Interior Ministry as saying that 20 inmates and three security guards were injured.
It was not known whether the prison housed any of the more than 200 Islamic militants arrested in recent months in a nationwide hunt for supporters of Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda terror network.
RUSSIA
Truck bomb kills two near Chechnya
MOSCOW — A suicide bomber blew up a truck outside security offices near rebel Chechnya yesterday, officials said, killing two persons in a fresh setback for Moscow’s peace plan for the region.
The truck, with a cargo of explosives covered in hay, drove unchecked past roadblocks and exploded at the headquarters of Russia’s Federal Security Service in Magas, capital of Ingushetia — a tiny Russian province bordering Chechnya.
AFGHANISTAN
Top commander among 15 Taliban killed
SPIN BOLDAK — A senior rebel commander was among 15 Taliban fighters killed in overnight clashes with U.S.-led forces and government troops, Afghan officials said yesterday.
The U.S. military confirmed the death toll, saying American and allied warplanes backed Afghan and U.S.-led forces on the ground hunting remnants of the ousted Taliban regime and terror network al Qaeda.
Mullah Abdur Rahim was a senior Taliban commander who controlled the hard-line militia’s forces in southern Afghanistan.
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