Jerusalem

Sharon rejects demands for vote on Gaza withdrawal

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Sunday rejected calls from Jewish settlers to have a nationwide referendum on his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, escalating an increasingly bitter dispute with former allies who now accuse him of leading Israel toward civil war.

Sunday’s stormy meeting left the two sides deeply at odds as Sharon prepares to present his plan for a parliamentary vote. Sharon, who spent the first three decades of his political career building settlements, now wants to pull out of the entire Gaza Strip and uproot four West Bank settlements next year.

Sharon says his plan will increase Israel’s security after four years of fighting the Palestinians and will help consolidate control over large chunks of the West Bank.

Florida

Jeb Bush rules out 2008 White House run

Gov. Jeb Bush said Sunday he would not run for president in 2008 and defended his brother from critics who say the president refuses to acknowledge his mistakes.

“I’m not going to run for president in 2008. That’s not my interest,” Bush told ABC’s “This Week.” “I’m going to finish my term.”

Bush said he was not going to think about his next move until after completing his second term in 2006. In an Associated Press survey in August, more than a third of the state’s Republican delegates said they favored Bush as the party’s presidential candidate in 2008.

Haiti

Interim leader accuses Aristide of backing violence

Haiti’s interim prime minister accused ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of directing a wave of violence from exile, while 95 Chinese police arrived Sunday to participate in their first U.N. peacekeeping mission in the Western Hemisphere.

The Chinese police joined an overextended peacekeeping force that has struggled to keep order as violence has surged in Port-au-Prince, with at least 55 people killed in clashes since Sept. 30, when supporters of the ousted leader took to the streets to demand his return.

Aristide “is the symbol of violence. He believes in that,” Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue told reporters.

Chicago

FDA to reconsider teen access to emergency contraception

Some see easy access to emergency contraception as a way to drastically reduce teen pregnancy, already on the decline since the early 1990s. Others worry that its long-term effects on young women are unknown or argue that the drug, also known as the “morning after pill,” encourages teens to have sex.

Ultimately, it will be up to Food and Drug Administration officials to decide: Should older teens be able to buy emergency contraception over the counter?

Earlier this year, the FDA denied one drug company’s request to sell its brand of emergency contraception to anyone. Now that company, Barr Pharmaceuticals, has submitted a second proposal — to sell its Plan B brand to people 16 and older, but to require anyone younger than that to consult a physician. The company expects a decision next year.