World Scene

ISRAEL

Peres urges Abbas not to stand down

TEL AVIV | Israeli President Shimon Peres on Saturday called on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to rescind his decision not to run for re-election, invoking the memory of Yitzhak Rabin at a public commemoration for the assassinated Israeli prime minister.

Mr. Peres spoke to a crowd of thousands at the square where Rabin was gunned down by a Jewish extremist who opposed his peace policies on Nov. 4, 1995.

Mr. Peres recalled that, along with Rabin, he and Mr. Abbas were among signatories to the 1993 Oslo peace accord and appealed to Mr. Abbas by name not to quit. “We both signed the Oslo agreement,” Mr. Peres said. “I turn to you as a colleague; don’t let go.”

Mr. Abbas announced Thursday that he would not run for another term in an election scheduled for January, citing deadlocked efforts to revive peace talks.

SAUDI ARABIA

H1N1 no barrier to hajj pilgrimage

RIYADH | Saudi Arabian Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabeeah said Saturday that the kingdom would not bar anyone considered high-risk for swine flu from performing the hajj pilgrimage this year, though he urged countries where pilgrims set out from to take precautions.

The hajj, required of all able-bodied Muslims at least once in their lifetime, has become a concern for world health officials because the density of pilgrims has raised fears of a massive spread of swine flu. The pilgrimage begins this year on Nov. 25.

The H1N1 flu has killed 66 people in Saudi Arabia. International experts, including those from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, recommended at a conference in June that the elderly, pregnant women, people with chronic diseases and children skip the hajj this year.

CHINA

Cornell returns prized mushrooms

BEIJING | A Chinese scholar persecuted during the Cultural Revolution for smuggling a rare collection of mushrooms out of China before World War II was honored Saturday when the collection was returned more than 70 years later.

At a ceremony at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Cornell University President David Skorton handed over the collection that had been meticulously gathered by scholar Shu Chun Teng.

Teng studied mycology at Cornell University in the 1920s, then spent the next decade traveling on horseback gathering molds, lichens, yeasts, rusts and morels in the forests, fields and marshes of his homeland.

Teng became a target during the devastating 1966-76 Cultural Revolution. Discharged from his lab, he was subjected to daily beatings and mental prosecution that ruined his health and career. He died in 1970 at age 67.

MADAGASCAR

Rivals reach government deal

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia | Madagascar’s political rivals have agreed on posts within a transitional government that will hold power until next year’s elections following a power struggle that brought months of volatility to the country, an African Union statement said.

The deal, announced late Friday, allows Andry Rajoelina to remain head of state. However, he now will be joined by two co-presidents representing other political factions on the Indian Ocean island off the southeast coast of Africa.

Mr. Rajoelina, a 35-year-old former disk jockey, was mayor of Madagascar’s capital of Antananarivo when he overthrew democratically-elected President Marc Ravalomanana in March after winning support from the military. The widely denounced takeover followed weeks of protests that claimed dozens of lives.

RUSSIA

Medvedev sees hope for arms deal

MOSCOW | Russia and the United States have a good chance of reaching a new nuclear arms reduction deal before year’s end, but other nuclear powers must join disarmament efforts, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine.

Russia and the United States both say they are committed to negotiating a successor deal to their 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. That arms reduction treaty has gradually slashed both sides’ arsenals, but is set to expire Dec. 5.