New York City: Saudi minister urges Saddam to step down

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister strongly suggested in an interview broadcast Monday that Saddam Hussein should step down from power for the sake of the Iraqi people.

“If his staying in power (is) the only thing that brings problems to his country, we expect he would respond to a sacrifice for his country, as he requires any citizen there to … sacrifice for his country,” Prince Saud al Faisal said in the interview broadcast on ABC-TV.

The prince also said that he feels “frustration” with what he described as advisers to President Bush who have pushed for the war with Iraq.

“The president has shown that he was always, always patient,” Saud said. “But …. these prognosticators, when the United States needs friends everywhere, have gone so far as to try to convince the American public that their friends are enemies. This is a time for reckoning. This is a time to show who the real friend and who the real enemy is.”

He declined to identify whom he was talking about.

Germany: Coca-Cola a target in boycott of U.S. goods

In Europe, where the burgers aren’t served with “freedom fries,” some restaurants were refusing to sell Coca-Cola, Marlboro cigarettes and other internationally known U.S. brands in boycotts spurred by antiwar sentiment.

In the northern port city of Hamburg, 10 owners of French restaurants decided last week to strike alcohol, tobacco and other goods with U.S. brand names from their menus.

Jean-Yves Mabileau of L’Auberge Francaise threatened to take things a step further if the war did not end soon. “If the Americans won’t calm down, I’ll start refusing to accept American Express and other U.S. credit cards,” he said.

The movement is not confined to Germany. Several Web sites call for Europeans to stop consuming leading U.S. products, and other countries have seen similar calls to reject American goods.

New York: Jesse Jackson to help in search for journalists

The Rev. Jesse Jackson said Monday he has told the families of two missing Newsday journalists last seen in Baghdad that he would try to help track down their whereabouts.

Jackson, who has had success in negotiating the release of American prisoners in past conflicts, said relatives of Newsday correspondent Matthew McAllester, 33, and photographer Moises Saman, 29, asked him Sunday to help locate the two men.

“And I said I would do my very best,” Jackson said in Melville. He said he had no plans to travel to the region, however.

Saman and McAllester have been out of contact since March 24, when they e-mailed their Long Island-based newspaper to say they would be filing material. Newsday editor Anthony Marro said that he believes the two have been detained by the Iraqi government.

Pennsylvania: Pantyhose can be desert defense item

One item U.S. military personnel in Iraq are asking for is pantyhose. Now, that might give some people pause, but pantyhose are one way that troops can protect themselves from pesky sand fleas.

Women’s pantyhose work well enough as a sand-flea barrier, but several companies make pantyhose especially for men. G. Lieberman & Sons of Allentown offers a practical line of male-only pantyhose through its Web site, www.glieberman.com. Several models sport male-friendly fly openings, and the hosiery comes in several sizes.

“We found this to be a very viable product, with real benefits, and not just something for cross-dressers,” says Kimberly Najarian of Ibel Agency, which represents the e-commerce company.