Vatican City

Pope vows to continue serving church

Pope John Paul II blessed the faithful from his hospital window Sunday, looking frail and speaking with difficulty but determined to show he can still lead the Roman Catholic Church.

The 10-minute appearance at an open window gave the public its first glimpse of the 84-year-old pontiff since his hospitalization, which rekindled questions about his ability to carry on.

He looked rested and alert, and a message read for him by an Argentine archbishop standing beside him seemed designed to quell doubts about the pope’s readiness and ability to lead the Church.

“… In this hospital, in the middle of other sick people to whom my affectionate thoughts go out, I can continue to serve the church and the entire humanity,” the message said.

Togo

National assembly approves president’s son

Togo’s parliament hastily amended the constitution Sunday to put a legal veneer on the military’s appointment of 39-year-old Faure Gnassingbe to replace his deceased father as president, voiding the need for new elections until 2008.

The military, within hours of the announcement of Gnassingbe Eyadema’s death on Saturday, named his son president, contravening the country’s constitution that called for the speaker of parliament to succeed the head of state until elections could be held in 60 days.

The extraordinary session of the national assembly, dominated by Eyadema’s ruling Togo People’s Rally party, overwhelmingly approved Gnassingbe as speaker of parliament. It then passed a constitutional amendment allowing him to fulfill his father’s term.

The African Union condemned the army appointment.

Geneva

Companies may be implicated in oil scandal

Companies that bought Iraqi oil from traders who allegedly spent billions of dollars to bribe Saddam Hussein for contracts under the U.N. oil-for-food program now could be implicated in the vast web of corruption uncovered in the investigation by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, a Swiss criminal lawyer told The Associated Press on Sunday.

The alleged payoffs to win Iraqi contracts amounted to as much as $2.5 billion, Mark Pieth said in an AP interview.

“We are trying to find out who paid the surcharges eventually,” said Pieth, one of three commission members leading a probe into allegations of corruption in the program. Volcker heads the investigation and issued an interim report last week in New York. Pieth was interviewed by telephone in New York where he joined Volcker for the release of the report.

Companies that bought the oil from traders could face prosecution or penalties if they were aware that the middlemen had paid illegal surcharges, Pieth said.

Somalia

Government welcomed by thousands in streets

Thousands of Somalis lined the streets of this war-scarred city Sunday to welcome representatives of a new government formed in neighboring Kenya in a bid to end 14 years of anarchy in this Horn of Africa nation.

Shariif Hassan Sheikh Aden, who heads a 275-member transitional parliament, and a delegation of 60 lawmakers and Cabinet ministers landed at an airstrip run by one of Mogadishu’s main warlords. The group will assess conditions for the government’s relocation from Nairobi, Kenya, where it operates because many of its members consider Mogadishu too dangerous.

The delegation drove through town in a large convoy past thousands of cheering, clapping Somalis waving flowers, flags and branches with green leaves. The scores of vehicles included pickup trucks full of armed militia fighters.

A new government was formed last year after complex negotiations. But members already are divided over whether international peacekeepers are needed to secure their return to Somalia.

On Saturday, the Cabinet approved a presidential request for African Union troops.