West Bank

Abbas to pursue Arafat’s goals

Mahmoud Abbas, the newly named head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, vowed Tuesday to pursue Yasser Arafat’s goals of achieving a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and securing a “right of return” for Palestinian refugees.

Abbas, nominated by leaders of the PLO’s dominant Fatah movement as its candidate for president of the Palestinian Authority, in effect launched his election campaign with a speech during a memorial ceremony for Arafat, who died Nov. 11.

The remarks seemed calculated to reassure hard-line Fatah loyalists that Abbas would not give in easily to Israel on issues central to Palestinians. Abbas, a 69-year-old former prime minister, is known as a pragmatist and critic of using violence to win statehood. His new prominence has raised hopes among Israeli and American officials for a more moderate Palestinian leadership — but fueled resistance among younger militants in the movement.

Havana

China forges stronger trade relations to Cuba

Chinese President Hu Jintao and trade leaders agreed to an array of business deals with Cuba Tuesday as the two communist nations worked to strengthen their economic ties.

By the time Hu flew out of Havana Tuesday night, he had agreed to a $500 million investment in the island’s key nickel industry and attended talks aimed at increasing Chinese involvement in Cuban tourism and telecommunications.

Relations between the two nations were tense during the Cold War, when the Caribbean island was strongly allied with the Soviet Union, but warmed after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and Cuba lost its preferential trade and aid deals with the Soviet bloc.

In a ceremony Tuesday, Castro bestowed the Jose Marti Honorary Order on Hu.

“Socialism will definitively remain as the only real hope for peace and survival of our species,” Castro said.

“That is precisely what the Communist Party of the People’s Republic of China has demonstrated.”

Colombia

Troops kill noted guerrilla commander

Army troops in southern Colombia killed the commander of an elite guerrilla unit blamed for a string of high-profile attacks and kidnappings, officials said Tuesday.

Humberto Valbuena, the head of the Teofilo Forero unit of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was killed Monday along with three other rebels during an offensive in remote jungles in Caqueta state, an army spokeswoman said.

Valbuena, alias “Grass,” was one of the rebels who “carried out the largest number of kidnappings and extortion in the country,” Gen. Carlos Alberto Fracica, the commander of the “Plan Patriota” offensive, told reporters.

Authorities blame the Teofilo Forero for the abduction of three American defense contractors after their anti-drug plane crashed in a guerrilla stronghold in February 2002, as well as several deadly bombings in the capital, Bogota.

London

Crime, security central to Blair’s campaign

Prime Minister Tony Blair put the fight against crime and terrorism at the center of his campaign for a third term, pledging on Tuesday to fast-track plans for national identity cards and a new police agency similar to the FBI.

With parliamentary elections expected in May, the government wants to appear tough on law and order, and security lies at the heart of the legislative program it unveiled Tuesday.

Queen Elizabeth II outlined to Parliament the government’s legislative agenda for the coming year. Reading from a speech written by ministers, she unveiled plans for a Serious Organized Crime Agency to crack down on drug gangs, people-traffickers, major fraudsters and Internet pedophiles. The agency has been dubbed the British equivalent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The government also promised new counterterrorism legislation, having said it wants to introduce special anti-terrorism courts without juries and allow phone-tap evidence in trials.