In the World
Irish speaker quits in scandal
DUBLIN, Ireland - The speaker of Ireland's Parliament resigned yesterday after his years of lavish expenses and foreign travel were exposed, becoming the first speaker in the 87-year history of Parliament to be forced out.John O'Donoghue, a 53-year-old former lawyer, delivered a bitter parting speech accusing fellow lawmakers of hypocrisy. His fall from grace began three months ago, when newspapers began publishing confidential details of his expenses and trips abroad since 2002 with total bills exceeding 700,000 euros ($1 million).
O'Donoghue was a widely liked lawmaker who became Parliament's moderator in 2007 after five years as minister of arts, sports, and tourism. Both jobs are among the cushiest in government.
His ouster was inspired in part by Ireland's sudden nose-dive into recession - fueling public anger at lawmakers still living large at taxpayer expense. - AP
Militants killed in Saudi clash
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - A shoot-out yesterday between Saudi security forces and al-Qaeda extremists - some of whom were disguised as women and wearing explosives belts - left two of the extremists and a soldier dead, the Interior Ministry said.One soldier was lightly injured in the clash at a checkpoint in the south of the country, near the border with Yemen, said a ministry spokesman, Brig. Gen. Mansour al-Turki.
The shoot-out was the first known confrontation between authorities and al-Qaeda since a suicide bomber injured Assistant Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef in the western seaport of Jidda on Aug. 27.
The attacker was a member of the Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
- AP
Uproar over son irks Sarkozy
PARIS - President Nicolas Sarkozy suggested yesterday his 23-year-old son had been thrown "to the wolves" by critics since he launched a bid for a highly visible job overseeing France's biggest business district.Critics say Jean Sarkozy, who has no college degree and is still studying law at the Sorbonne, is too inexperienced for the job. His candidacy has launched a national uproar, with more than 44,000 signatures on an online petition asking him to drop out of the running.
EPAD, which Jean Sarkozy hopes to chair, is a quasigovernmental agency that oversees administration of La Defense, a complex of skyscrapers west of Paris where 150,000 people work. He is eligible because he is an elected official - on a regional council in the Paris suburb of Neuilly. The EPAD board chooses its next chairman Dec. 4.
Asked by reporters about the outcry, President Sarkozy said journalists were busy focusing on controversies while he, as president, has to "solve problems." - AP
Elsewhere:
Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic yesterday lost his final legal challenge to his trial on genocide and other charges at the United Nations' Yugoslav war-crimes tribunal at the Hague, Netherlands. An appeals panel rejected his claim that he cannot be tried because he was promised immunity by a U.S. envoy.
A suicide bomber killed the leader of a U.S.-backed Sunni paramilitary group and seven others in Buhriz, a former Saddam Hussein stronghold north of Baghdad yesterday, the third attack in as many days in a heavily populated Sunni area, police said.
