Jerusalem

Palestinians reassert right to declare state

Palestinian leaders on Saturday reasserted the right to unilaterally declare an independent state in the absence of a peace deal with Israel, responding to Israel’s own threats of one-sided action.

The go-it-alone declarations reflect both sides’ frustrations with more than three years of fighting and stalled peace talks.

The PLO Executive Committee, one of the Palestinians’ key leadership bodies, met Friday night to discuss the ongoing conflict with Israel and reiterated the right to declare a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Arab parts of Jerusalem — lands that Israel took control of in the 1967 Mideast war.

Iran

Officials reject U.S. overture on new talks

Iran rejected a U.S. overture for talks between the estranged nations, saying Saturday that Washington must first end its hostile policy toward the Islamic state.

The Bush administration indicated Friday it wanted to talk with Iran about its nuclear program, human rights and terrorism in the Middle East. But Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said the Iranians weren’t swayed by what they viewed as a lopsided proposal.

“Right now there are no plans to commence a dialogue,” Kharrazi told a news conference Saturday.

Mexico

Terrorism, immigration focus of special summit

Leaders from throughout the Americas will try to map out a common vision Monday on how to make the region safer, balancing concerns about security against alarm over increasingly aggressive U.S. measures to meet terror threats.

Governments from Mexico to Brazil have cried foul over U.S. measures to photograph and fingerprint visiting foreigners and to cancel airline flights over what some call dubious evidence of possible attacks.

But Latin American leaders excited about President Bush’s proposal to allow their citizens to work in the United States may be hesitant to openly confront his policies during the two-day summit in this northern Mexico city.

Bush and most other leaders are scheduled to arrive Monday for private meetings before the formal start of the Special Summit of the Americas.

Vatican City

Pope cancels traditional Ash Wednesday service

In the latest sign of concern over his frail health, Pope John Paul II has canceled his traditional Ash Wednesday service at a Rome basilica, the Vatican said Saturday.

For decades, John Paul would open the Catholic church’s solemn Lenten period with a ceremony in St. Sabina’s Basilica, a 5th-century church on Rome’s Aventine Hill. During the service, the pontiff would smudge ashes, a sign of penitence, on the foreheads of clergy and lay people.

This year, the pope will preside over a prayer ceremony in a Vatican auditorium, eliminating the taxing drive from the Vatican across Rome to the Aventine Hill and the transfer from cars to the wheeled decorative chair he has been using to get around.