A Russian Soyuz spacecraft docked at the international space station today, delivering American millionaire scientist Gregory Olsen and a new Russian-American crew. Astronaut William McArthur and cosmonaut Valery Tokarev are replacing Russian Sergei Krikalev and American John Phillips, who will return to Earth on Oct. 11, along with Olsen, a 60-year-old founder of an infrared-camera maker based in Princeton, N.J. He reportedly paid $20 million for a seat on the Expedition 12 flight.
Germany: Conservatives gain seat
Conservative challenger Angela Merkel’s party, the Christian Democrats, gained a seat in Dresden on Sunday in the last remaining district in parliamentary balloting, boosting her chances of becoming Germany’s first female chancellor and giving the party extra momentum in coalition talks to form a new government. Both Merkel and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder claim a mandate to be chancellor.
Stasi spied on pope, report says
The former East German secret service considered Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, one of the most dangerous critics of communism and spied on him starting in 1974, a leading Berlin weekly, Bild am Sonntag, reported Sunday. Excerpts of vast files showed that the secret police, or Stasi, closely watched Ratzinger for years, collecting biographical details, information from spies and expectations of his next moves.
Israel: Sharon, Abbas agree to meet
Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas agreed Sunday to hold their first summit since Israel’s pullout from Gaza as part of their efforts to restart the stalled Middle East peace process, officials from both sides said. No date was announced. Also, Israeli officials said Sunday they were suspending the wide-ranging offensive against Palestinian militants following a lull in rocket attacks against Israeli towns.
Vatican: Bishops open meeting
Pope Benedict XVI inaugurated his first major Vatican event since being elected in April, welcoming more than 250 of the world’s bishops to Rome on Sunday for a meeting on some of the pressing issues facing the Catholic Church. During the three-week synod, bishops will make recommendations to the pope on running the church.
N. Korea: Food rationing returns
North Korea plans to resume full-scale food rationing across the impoverished communist country after ending grain sales, a U.N. relief agency said. North Korea significantly scaled back its food-rationing system in July 2002 while introducing an economic reform program that increased wages. The reform measures failed, however, as inflation soared amid shortages of food and other goods.
From Herald news services
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