Aviation minister's death by mob not conspiracy

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghanistan's foreign minister said Wednesday the country's aviation minister was killed by an angry mob, not senior government conspirators as interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai has claimed.

Foreign Minister Dr. Abdullah said that police had questioned dozens of witnesses and now believe that Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Abdul Rahman was killed last week at Kabul airport by Islamic pilgrims enraged that their flights to Saudi Arabia had been delayed.

Abdullah said the whole government now shares this view, although there was no comment on this from Karzai.

AFL-CIO unions weigh mandatory assessment

WASHINGTON -- The AFL-CIO, in an election year with control of Congress at stake, finds itself short of the $35 million it wants to spend on campaigns and is weighing a mandatory assessment of its member unions to permanently fund its political activities.

Gerald McEntee, the AFL-CIO's political chairman and president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees said he hopes unions and the federation work out funding. "It is such a critical year," he said.

The AFL-CIO has identified about half of the $35 million it wants to spend for the two-year election cycle.

"The bottom line is there's going to be a political program at the same level as I'm sure we've had other years," said Steve Rosenthal, the AFL-CIO's political director.

Israel's court recognizes non-orthodox conversions

JERUSALEM -- In a landmark decision, Israel's Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the state must officially recognize conversions to Judaism by Reform and Conservative groups in Israel.

The effect of the ruling by the 11-justice panel seems very limited for now: It would force the Interior Ministry to identify those converted by non-Orthodox rabbis as Jews in the "nationality" clause on their ID cards.

But the Orthodox Jewish establishment that controls marriages, divorces and burials for Jews could continue to refuse services to converts.

Still, secular and non-Orthodox religious groups praised the decision as an important step toward full equality for the Conservative, Reform and other more liberal Jewish movements which are dominant in the United States but marginal here.

Consumer inflation inches higher in January

WASHINGTON -- Higher prices for gasoline, medical care and some food items contributed to a mild rise in consumer inflation in January. But prices for clothing, cars, lodging and computers all fell, providing shoppers with some bargains.

The Consumer Price Index, a closely watched gauge of inflation, rose 0.2 percent last month after dipping 0.1 percent in December, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.

Excluding energy and food prices, which can swing widely from month to month, the "core" rate of inflation increased 0.2 percent in January, up slightly from a 0.1 percent advance the month before.

Even with the modest advances in both overall and core inflation in January, many economists believe consumer prices will remain steady in the months ahead because companies will continue to find it difficult to raise prices even as the economy tries to pull out of recession.

Survivors of Kosovo confront Milosevic in trial

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- A Kosovo Albanian farmer who escaped death when Serbs killed 16 members of his family testified in the trial of Slobodan Milosevic Wednesday, the first victim of the carnage in Kosovo to confront the former Yugoslav president.

But Milosevic, combative and self-assured, wrung admissions from his accusers that anti-Serb guerrillas were active in Kosovo, suggesting that Serb forces were engaged in legitimate operations against "terrorists."

--From wire reports