2A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, February 3, 2005 NATION/WORLD Mid. East leaders agree to meet NEWS IN BRIEF ma=mu~rm warw~umm~W~ma a man: . a minmaur, 0 JERUSALEM (AP) - The Israe- li and Palestinian leaders yesterday accepted Egypt's offer to host a sum- mit between them, raising hopes for a breakthrough in Mideast peace efforts after four years of fighting. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak offered to bring Israeli Prime Minis- ter Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik on Tuesday, capping weeks of a dramatic easing in tensions between the two sides. King Abdullah II of Jordan, another important figure in regional peacemak- ing, also will attend, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said. Qureia said Palestinians hope the summit will produce a mutual cease- fre, a halt to Israel's targeted killings of militants and the release of Palestinian prisoners. The presence of Egypt and Jordan, both of which have long-standing peace agreements with Israel, would signal firm Arab support for any agreements Sharon and Abbas might reach. Egypt and Jordan "will be insurance of success for a summit," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said. The White House welcomed the summit as "an encouraging step." Spokesman Scott McClellan called this "an important time to help support the Palestinian leaders to move forward on putting institutions in place for a demo- cratic state to emerge. "At the top of that list for those Pales- tinian leaders is to address some of the security issues and the violence and the terror," he said. "They've taken some important steps that are positive." Erekat said he, Palestinian negotia- tor Mohammed Dahlan and Palestinian Cabinet Secretary Hassan Abu Libdeh will meet today with Sharon's chief of staff, Dov Weisglass, and Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz to pre- Palestinians hope the summit will produce a mutual cease-fire, a halt to Israel's targeted killings of militants and the release of Palestinian prisoners pare for the summit. In recent days, there has been bicker- ing over what to raise at a summit, and disagreements remain over the scope of a Palestinian prisoner release, the fate of Palestinian fugitives and a West Bank troop redeployment. The expected arrival of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the region over the weekend also is intensifying pressure on both sides to settle some differences over what should be announced after the meeting. There has been no word on whether Rice might attend the summit. Israeli radio stations described Sharon's invitation to Egypt as "historic." Mubarak has refused to meet the hard-line leader since he became prime minister in 2001. Israel's Security Cabinet will meet today to discuss the summit agenda. Egypt extended the summit invitation during a meeting yesterday between Sha- ron and Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman. A day before, Suleiman met the leaders of the militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Khaled Mashaal and Ramadan Shalah, respectively, in Cairo. The intelligence chief's unexpect- ed trip to Jerusalem signaled that he made progress in winning a promise from the Palestinian militant groups to halt attacks on Israel. AP PHOTO Murugupillai Jeyarajah, a man who claims to be the parent of the tsunami survivor infant dubbed "Baby 81," cries as his wife Jenita Jeyarajah holds the baby at a hospital in Kalmunal, Sri Lanka. DNA test to prove parents of 'Baby81' KALMUNAI, Sri Lanka (AP) - "Give us our baby!" a distraught Sri Lankan mother cried yesterday after a judge kept her from the 4-month-old boy she says was torn from her arms in Asia's tsunami. In the disaster zone's most heart-wrenching custody case, a court ordered Jenita Jeyarajah and her husband to undergo a DNA test to prove they are the parents of the child known as "Baby 81," triggering a melee at a hospital that led to the would-be parents' arrests. The couple had hoped to take custody of the child at yesterday's hearing, and became inconsolable when told he would be put back into hospital care until at least April 20 - the next available date on the court calendar when the judge will hear the DNA results. Jenita Jeyarajah beat her chest and shouted she couldn't be away from her child that long. Then, accompanied by dozens of relatives and friends, she and her husband, Muru- gupillai, marched a half-mile to the hospital where the baby has been kept since the Dec. 26 disaster and forced their way into the pediatric ward. "Here is my baby - look, look!" the 25-year-old woman screamed. "Please give us our baby!" she pleaded before dropping to her knees at the feet of the head nurse and begged to take the child home. The couple and two supporters were arrested and brief- ly held by police, then released and ordered to appear at a hearing on Thursday. U.u ciRnn health condition stabilizes VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope John Paul II had a restful night and his con- dition stabilized after he was rushed to a hospital with breathing trouble, but he will spend several more days at 9:30 the clinic to recover from the flu, the oaMMesM 'Vatican said yesterday. Around the world, Roman Catholics F EU KL paused to pray for the health of the 84- Syear-old pontiff. * TY Tests showed John Paul's heart and respiration were normal, and he got several hours' rest after being taken 1B U 0 0by ambulance to the hospital Tues- *r day night, papal spokesman Joaquin r T Navarro-Valls said. The pontiff was running a slight fever from the flu and would spend "a few more days" IERR iEiE at Rome's Gemelli Polyclinic for 1lE E E treatment of respiratory problems, 1! i 1, he said. @ 8:00 "There is no cause for alarm," Navarro-Valls said. .The pope has Parkinson's disease, and Cardinal Javier Lozano Barra- gan, the Vatican's top health official, told Associated Press Television News that the slumping pontiff's inability to hold his back up straight has left his lungs and diaphragm in a crushed position. Navarro-Valls insisted the pope had never lost consciousness, and he did not need a tracheotomy to insert mR a tube into his windpipe to help - I him breathe. He said John Paul par- ticipated from his hospital bed in a *fli Mass celebrated by his secretary in PIEE, 'the room. . it4 ti s'.i BAGHDAD, Iraq Sunnis in Iraq denounce elections Iraq's leading Sunni Muslim clerics said yesterday the country's landmark elections lacked legitimacy because large numbers of Sunnis did not partici- pate in the balloting, which the religious leaders had asked them to boycott. Emboldened by the elections, which U.S. and Iraqi authorities cited as a victory for democracy, the police chief in Mosul demanded the insurgents hand over weapons within two weeks or he would "wipe out" anyone giving them shelter. The level of insurgent violence has appeared to drop sharply after the election. It is unclear whether the drop is due to disillusionment within insurgent ranks, the effects of the stringent pre-election security measures that are being slowly relaxed, or whether the militants have paused to reassess their strategy in light of the ballot. "The coming days and weeks will show whether this retreat will continue or whether it is tactical because of the strike against them," interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi told Al-Iraqiya television. KATMANDU, Nepal Nepalese King appoints cabinet members King Gyanendra announced a 10-member Cabinet dominated by his own suppoirt- ers on yesterday, one day after he dismissed Nepal's government, declared emergency rule and virtually cut his nation off from the world. Dozens of politicians have been arrested and many more have gone under- ground to avoid detention, an opposition figure said, as extra riot police and soldiers patrolled the streets of the capital, Katmandu, where civil liberties were severely curtailed. Gyanendra will head the newly appointed Cabinet, state radio said in a report that gave few details other than the new body's members. "The king has expressed confidence that everyone will support and cooper- ate with the new Cabinet," the palace said in a statement. Shortly after the king swore in his new cabinet, Home Minister Dan Bahadur Shahi said the government would soon be approaching the Maoist rebels to renew talks. WASHINGTON Fed increases interest rates to 2.5 percent The Federal Reserve yesterday raised interest rates for the sixth time since last June as policy-makers continued their efforts to make sure a strengthen- ing economy does not trigger unwanted inflation. The Fed announced that it was raising its target for the federal funds rate, the interest that banks charge each other, by a quarter-point to 2.5 percent. Before the Fed began tightening credit last June, the funds rate had been at a 46-year low of 1 percent. The February increase is not expected to be the last. Analysts think the Fed will push the funds rate up in quarter-point increments through most of this year. NEW YORK CBS finds temporary replacement for Rather Dan Rather will be temporarily replaced with veteran "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer when Rather steps down next month as "CBS Evening News" anchor, the network said yesterday. Schieffer will serve "for a short transition period" until the broadcast gets a new format, CBS News President Andrew Heyward said. CBS chief Leslie Moonves said last month that he was probably going to install a multi-anchor format for the "CBS Evening News," which has been a distant third in the ratings behind NBC and ABC. - Compiled from Daily wire reports MARKET UPDATE WED. CLOSE CHANGE Dow JONES 10,596.79 +44.85 NASDAQ 2,075.06 +6.36 S&'P 500 1193.19 +3:7 01 ri~ I * wwwamichigandaily.comn The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily's office for $2. 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