Saudi Arabia
Islamic edict bans Pokemon games
Saudi Arabia has banned Pokemon cards, saying they show symbols associated with Israel and are harmful to children.
Saudi Arabia's highest religious authority has declared a fatwa, or religious ruling, against the cute little characters created by Japan's Nintendo.
During the weekend, Saudi Arabia's Higher Committee for Scientific Research and Islamic Law said Pokemon games and cards have "possessed the minds" of Saudi children.
The fatwa said Pokemon video games and cards have symbols that include "the Star of David, which everyone knows is connected to international Zionism and is Israel's national emblem."
West Bank
Palestinian gunmen kill 10-month-old girl
A 10-month-old Jewish girl became the youngest victim of six months of Palestinian-Israeli violence Monday when Palestinian gunmen shot her dead in the arms of her father in the tense, divided West Bank city of Hebron.
The shooting put Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on the spot. Elected in February with a pledge to restore security to Israelis, Sharon was trying to avert an explosion of violence in advance of both today's Arab League summit meeting in Jordan and a potentially explosive observance Friday by Israel's minority Arab citizens.
The baby, Shalhevet Pass, was shot in the head, and her father, Yitzhak Pass, was wounded in the leg by gunfire from a hill in the Palestinian-controlled part of Hebron, just across from a Jewish area.
The Israelis fired tank shells at the neighborhood shortly after the baby was killed. Seven Palestinians were wounded.
Kazakstan
Pipeline opens to export oil
With a ceremonial twist of a valve, Russian and Kazak officials on Monday began pumping crude oil through the first major pipeline to be built in the resource-rich Caspian Sea region in a decade.
The pipeline, which runs from Kazakstan's Tengiz field to Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, will bring Russia new transport tariffs and added political clout in the strategic region thought to hold vast oil reserves and described as a key source of energy for the 21st century.
Kazak Prime Minister Kasymzhomart Tokayev and Russian Deputy Energy Minister Vladimir Stanev took part in the opening ceremony for the new route Monday in the town of Atyrau in western Kazakstan.
Russia
Glitch found at new nuclear reactor
Operators discovered a minor glitch at Russia's newest nuclear power plant during start-up tests, Russia's state-owned nuclear power company said Monday.
No radiation leaked during Sunday's tests, which pushed nonradioactive steam through the generating turbines at the Rostov nuclear power plant near the southern city of Volgodonsk, the company, Rosenergoatom, said in a statement.
But steam leaked from the secondary cooling pipes, the statement said. Engineers fixed the problem and continued the test.
The Rostov plant was the first new nuclear plant launched in the former Soviet Union since the Chernobyl explosion in 1986.
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