Kazakhstan

Astronauts, cosmonaut head to space station

A Soyuz rocket blasted into the cosmos today as the sun rose over the Central Asian steppes, carrying a Russian, American and Italian to the international space station a month before NASA revives a shuttle program grounded after the Columbia disaster two years ago.

For more than two years, Russia’s space program has been the only lifeline to the station, delivering fresh scientists and supplies to the orbiting laboratory.

Russian Sergei Krikalev and American John Phillips were headed for a six-month stay on the space station while their European Space Agency colleague, Italian Roberto Vittori, was to return in 10 days with the current station crew.

Russian Salizhan Sharipov and American Leroy Chiao have been aboard the space station since October.

A main task for the new crew will be welcoming a U.S. space shuttle to the station after a two-year absence.

Haiti

U.N. peacekeeper killed

A U.N. peacekeeper from the Philippines was shot and killed Thursday on the fringes of a Haitian slum where troops have clashed with politically aligned street gangs, underscoring the volatile situation as the U.N. Security Council discussed expanding the mission.

The soldier was killed as U.N. troops prepared to set up an observation post at the entrance to Cite Soleil, a slum dominated by supporters of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, U.N. officials said. He was the third peacekeeper to be killed during the year-old U.N. mission in Haiti.

Philippine troops said the soldier, a 22-year army veteran, was driving an officer in a white U.N. sport-utility vehicle when he was shot. U.N. troops were barricading streets and establishing a checkpoint at the slum’s main entrance in an effort to clamp down on gangs.

Members of the U.N. Security Council are on a fact-finding trip in Port-au-Prince. Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue asked them for more help disarming militant groups who could disrupt the electoral process.

Cuba

U.N. agency condemns Cuba on human rights

Bucking expectations that Cuba would escape condemnation, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights adopted a U.S.-sponsored resolution Thursday criticizing the communist-ruled nation’s record and requesting that a commission staff member visit the island for a firsthand assessment.

The resolution was approved at the commission’s annual spring meeting in Switzerland by a comfortable 21-17 vote.

Cuba responded to the condemnation by introducing its own resolution before the commission, calling for an independent investigation of alleged abuses of terrorism suspects detained at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Similar resolutions adopted 15 times since 1990 have been approved by as few as one vote.

Paris

Chirac urges support for EU constitution

President Jacques Chirac on Thursday urged the French to vote for the EU constitution in an upcoming referendum, putting his prestige on the line over the charter he said was needed to ensure Europe’s standing as a world power.

Chirac chose a televised two-hour debate with 83 carefully selected young French people to make his first campaign pitch for a “Yes” in the May 29 referendum.

The constitution would provide for a president, a foreign minister and more streamlined decision-making and common policy in a wider range of areas for members of the 25-nation bloc.

West Bank

Abbas seeks unification of security services

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday ordered the consolidation of competing security forces under a unified command — a step toward meeting a key U.S. and Israeli demand and ending chaos in the Palestinian territories.

The move came as Israeli settlers agreed to negotiate with the government about a planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip this summer — a sharp turnaround that could ease the way for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s top policy initiative.

More than a dozen Palestinian security organizations have long operated as independent militias, contributing to rising lawlessness in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and limiting their effectiveness. Israel and the United States have demanded the forces be streamlined and directed toward halting violence as a condition for renewing peace negotiations.

The timing of Abbas’ move may be linked to his upcoming trip to the United States, which has been pressing him to rein in militants.

Sudan

U.S. seeks action to end Darfur crisis

The No. 2 State Department official expressed optimism Thursday that Sudan’s leaders will try to end the ethnic violence in the country’s Darfur region but said the United States wanted more than promises.

Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick spoke after meeting at the presidential palace with Sudan’s first vice president. He cited movement on the creation of a new unified government, efforts by African Union peacekeepers to lessen violence and this year’s peace accord ending the country’s two-decade civil war.

Today Zoellick planned to tour a Darfur refugee camp outside of El Fasher, which former Secretary of State Colin Powell visited in June, to urge an end to the bloodshed. Underscoring the region’s continuing crisis, the Abu-Shouk camp’s population has since doubled in size to 80,000 people.

Paris

Deadly fire strikes central Paris hotel

A fire roared through a central Paris hotel early today, killing at least 13 people and injuring dozens more, fire officials said. Some people leapt from the hotel’s windows to escape the flames.

The fire gutted the budget Paris Opera hotel in the capital’s 9th district, an area frequented by tourists.

At least 57 people were injured, 12 seriously, said fire services spokesman Laurent Vibert.

Firefighters rescued some people from the hotel, but others jumped out of windows to escape flames and choking smoke, Vibert said.

The fire took more than an hour to bring under control and was still smoldering hours later. Some 250 firefighters and 50 fire engines responded.

Nearly all of the six or seven floors were blackened inside. Vibert said Paris City Hall used the hotel to accommodate people before they were moved to subsidized housing.