Italian Journalist Rejects U.S. Account

By MARIA SANMINIATELLI
Associated Press Writer

ROME (AP) -- The Italian journalist wounded by American troops in Iraq after her release by insurgents rejected the U.S. military's account of the shooting and declined Sunday to rule out the possibility she was deliberately targeted. The White House said it was a "horrific accident" and promised a full investigation.

Meanwhile, an autopsy performed on the agent who died trying to save Giuliana Sgrena reportedly showed he was struck in the temple by a single round and died instantly as the car carrying Sgrena sped to the Baghdad airport.

Friday's shooting that wounded the 56-year-old journalist and killed Italian intelligence officer Nicola Calipari as they were celebrating her freedom has fueled anti-American sentiment in a country where people are deeply opposed to U.S. policy in Iraq.

But government officials indicated the shootings would not affect the decision by Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi - a strong U.S. ally - to maintain 3,000 troops in Iraq to help secure peace in the country.

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Iran Won't Stop Nuke Program; Warns U.S.

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran said Saturday it will never agree to a permanent halt on enriching uranium and warned that a more unstable Middle East would result from a U.S.-backed effort to haul Tehran before the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.

Any effort by Washington to bring Tehran's suspended uranium enrichment program under Security Council scrutiny is a dangerous path, warned Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Hasan Rowhani.

Speaking during a two-day international conference on nuclear technology, Rowhani said Iran will halt negotiations and resume uranium enrichment "without any hesitation" if European negotiators insist Iran make its temporary suspension of uranium enrichment permanent.

"Americans and Europeans will be the first to lose in that case," he told more than 50 nuclear scientists and experts attending the Tehran conference. "It will cause problems for regional energy and for the European economy.

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11 Suspected Terrorists Nabbed in Pakistan

MIRAN SHAH, Pakistan — Pakistani troops raided a hide-out of suspected Al Qaeda militants Saturday in a remote tribal area near, triggering a shootout that left two foreigners dead, an army spokesman said. Eleven people were arrested.

The troops also seized a large number of weapons in the raid near Miran Shah, the main town in northwest Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region, said Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan.

Pakistani security officials have said hundreds of foreign militants -- Arabs, Afghans and Central Asians -- with suspected Al Qaeda links are believed to be hiding in North and South Waziristan.

Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in the War on Terror, has deployed about 70,000 troops in the country's tribal regions to flush out terror suspects. The army in recent months has killed and arrested hundreds of militants in North and South Waziristan.

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Assad Announces Lebanon Troop Withdrawal

DAMASCUS, Syria — President Bashar Assad, responding to weeks of intense pressure, announced Saturday that Syria would move its troops to the Lebanese-Syrian border in a two-step pullback that he said should satisfy international demands for a complete pullout.

"Our way is a gradual and organized withdrawal," he told the parliament, adding that Syria has "an interest" in withdrawing from Lebanon.

He said he had agreed with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud to hold a meeting of the Syrian-Lebanese leaderships this week to approve the withdrawal plan.

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Extremists applaud murder of judge's relatives

(CNN) -- Investigators still don't know who is responsible for the murder of a Chicago judge's husband and mother on Monday, but white supremacist Web sites are applauding the killings.

Judge Joan Lefkow, 61, was once targeted for death by a white supremacist leader, but officials said there was no clear link to the killings.

Extremists on the Internet "are expressing satisfaction that they have been killed. Judge Lefkow has been vilified in these circles the past three years," explained Mark Pitcavage of the Anti-Defamation League. The ADL monitors a number of extremist sites on the Web and has been keeping close watch on the message traffic since the murders.

A posting on an Aryan Nations message board reads: "If you are doing the bidding of the enemy YOU ARE THE ENEMY!"

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Big gas price surge soon?

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Gasoline prices could rise by about quarter a gallon in the coming days to new record levels, according to a published report Friday.

USA Today, quoting energy experts and analysts, reported that a gain of 24 to 28 cents a gallon is possible as stations scramble to keep up with recent increases in oil and wholesale gasoline prices.

An increase of 24 cents a gallon would put the average retail price of a gallon of regular gas at about $2.16 a gallon, according to the Energy Information Agency, the Department of Energy unit that tracks prices. The EIA's survey put the average price at $1.928 in Monday's survey, up 2.3 cents from a week earlier.

The EIA's earlier record of $2.02 a gallon for regular was hit in May of 2004.

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Syria 'announcing troop pullback'

DAMASCUS, Syria -- Syrian President Bashar Assad, facing increasing international pressure, is expected to announce a pullback of Syrian troops to eastern Lebanon, Beirut political sources have said.

Assad will make an unexpected address to Syria's parliament on Saturday, the country's official news agency announced Friday.

Lebanon's defense minister said he expected Assad to announce a pullback of troops to the Bekaa region in eastern Lebanon, near the Syrian border, but not a full withdrawal, The Associated Press reported.

"No one knows what President Assad will say except the president himself, but we expect President Assad to announce a redeployment to the Bekaa region," Abdul-Rahim Murad, a member of the pro-Syrian government in Beirut, told AP.

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Lebanon 'victory' spurs Syrians to demand a voice

By Rhonda Roumani
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published March 2, 2005

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DAMASCUS, Syria -- Demonstrations that brought down the government of neighboring Lebanon on Monday inspired Syria's intellectuals and activists to issue new calls yesterday for greater political participation in their own country -- a nation known for its strict limits on dissent.

"What happened [in Lebanon] was a huge victory not only for the Lebanese people, but for the people of this region," said Wael Sawah, a Syrian political analyst and activist. "This is the first time a Cabinet resigns under popular pressure."

Michel Kilo, another prominent Syrian opposition figure, said that the Lebanese protests could have a ripple effect in Syria.

"The people here will want a bigger role and will start demanding their rights more," Mr. Kilo said.

Outside of the region, calls for Syria's troop withdrawal from Lebanon continued to echo yesterday as they have since last month's assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

In London, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that Syria must pull its 14,000 troops out of Lebanon.

"The pressure of the international community is quite palpable on Syria," she told reporters after a conference on Palestinian security. "They really should get about living up to their international obligations."

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High court: Juvenile death penalty unconstitutional

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the Constitution forbids the execution of killers who were under 18 when they committed their crimes, ending a practice used in 19 states.

The 5-4 decision throws out the death sentences of about 70 juvenile murderers and bars states from seeking to execute minors for future crimes.

The executions, the court said, were unconstitutionally cruel.

It was the second major defeat at the high court in three years for supporters of the death penalty. Justices in 2002 banned the execution of the mentally retarded, also citing the Constitution's Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishments.

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Bin Laden Enlisting Al-Zarqawi for Attacks

By LARA JAKES JORDAN and KATHERINE SHRADER
Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Osama bin Laden is enlisting his top operative in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, to plan potential attacks on the United States, U.S. intelligence indicates.

Al-Zarqawi, who rivals bin Laden as the nation's public enemy No. 1, has been involved in attacks in the Middle East but has not been known before to have set his sights on the United States.

The Homeland Security Department issued a classified bulletin to officials over the weekend about the intelligence, which spokesman Brian Roehrkasse described Monday as "credible but not specific."

The intelligence was obtained over the past several weeks, officials said.

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