Israel: Tanks enter refugee camp

Dozens of Israeli tanks swept early today into a Palestinian refugee camp in the northern West Bank, Palestinian security officials said, as Israel responded to a Palestinian shooting rampage that killed five people, including a mother and her two young sons.

On Monday in the second straight day of violence to take children’s lives, the 2-year-old Palestinian boy was killed as he played ball in the Gaza town of Rafah. Palestinians said Israeli soldiers fired the shots, but Israel said its forces had returned fire and knew of no casualties.

The refugee camp is believed to be a hotbed of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, a militia with ties to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement, which claimed responsibility for Sunday’s shooting in the nearby communal farm of Kibbutz Metzer.

Chile: U.S. open to ivory sale

The United States said Monday it would endorse a one-time sale of African ivory if strict international regulations of enforcement were set.

An American delegation at the U.N. Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species in Santiago offered a proposal to allow Botswana to sell nearly 45 tons of elephant ivory worth millions of dollars.

International trade in elephant ivory has been illegal since 1989 when the U.N. banned it worldwide.

Botswana, along with four other southern African nations, has sought permission to sell a total of 188 tons of ivory in a one-time sale. They also seek a yearly sale of ivory from stockpiles collected from elephants culled in governmental management plans.

India: Bill Gates gives $100 million to help women fight AIDS

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates pledged $100 million Monday to fight AIDS in India, an initiative he said would focus on helping women protect themselves from careless partners.

The $100 million contribution from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest grant the organization has given to a country to fight AIDS.

Gates said his initiative would focus on women, because of their vulnerability to the virus and their lack of access to treatment in India.

He said the Gates Foundation was looking at programs that teach prevention methods that don’t require the cooperation of a male partner.

Iran: University students protest professor’s death sentence

Thousands of university students and some teachers boycotted classes Monday to protest the death sentence imposed on a prominent professor convicted of insulting Islam and questioning hard-line clerics.

Enraged students at Tarbiat-e-Modarres University, where Hashem Aghajari taught history, took to the streets to denounce what they described as the “medieval” verdict against their professor.

Aghajari was found guilty of insulting the Prophet Muhammad and questioning the hard-line clergy’s interpretation of Islam.

In a June speech, Aghajari said clerics’ teachings on Islam were considered sacred simply because they were part of history and that each new generation should be able to interpret the faith on its own.