World scene

MIDEAST

Israeli politician urges Hamas talks

JERUSALEM | A senior opposition leader in Israel unveiled a peace plan Sunday that held out the possibility of negotiations with Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group in control of the Gaza Strip.

Shaul Mofaz, a former defense chief who is now No. 2 in the centrist Kadima party, raised the prospect of talks with Hamas - an idea rejected by both Israel and Hamas for years - to restart the long-stalled peace process with the Palestinians.

Israel and Western powers have said they would engage Hamas if it agreed to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept interim peace deals, terms Hamas refuses to accept.

While still saying that Hamas must accept the West’s demands, Mr. Mofaz said that if it won Palestinian elections in January, “I think that Israel must sit with a group that changes its agenda and the way it conducts business.”

IRAN

Nuclear agency seeks clarification

UNITED NATIONS | The head of the U.N. nuclear agency urged Iran on Monday to clarify its response amid mixed signals over a U.S.-backed proposal that would have Tehran ship most of its nuclear material abroad for processing.

Iran’s foreign minister said that option still exists, while a senior diplomat suggested the opposite. The proposal would have Tehran export 70 percent of its enriched uranium - enough to make a bomb - and then have it returned as fuel for its research reactor.

Tehran’s contrasting messages appear designed to keep the international community off balance on how far Iran is ready to go in accepting the original proposal.

Addressing the U.N. General Assembly, Mohamed ElBaradei said “a number of questions and allegations relevant to the nature” of Iran’s program remained, and he called for confidence-building measures on all sides.

EGYPT

China announces discount Africa loans

SHARM EL SHEIK | China’s prime minister on Sunday pledged $10 billion in concessional loans to African nations over the next three years and said Beijing would cancel the government debts of some of the poorest of those countries.

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