Nation briefs 3/21/06

New Orleans mayor's panel issues final report

NEW ORLEANS -- Mayor Ray Nagin finished work Monday on a plan to rebuild New Orleans, endorsing a proposal that would allow all residents to rebuild their homes in neighborhoods shattered by Hurricane Katrina. The mayor's advisory commission, formed after Katrina struck Aug. 29, recommended in January that some flooded neighborhoods be replaced with parks and that the city take a go-slow attitude in rebuilding low-lying areas. But that suggestion was greeted with jeers and outrage at public meetings. On Monday, he offered to let residents rebuild anywhere, but warned that homeowners in flood-prone areas would do so at their own risk. "I'm confident that the citizens can decide intelligently for themselves," the mayor said.

Former accountant testifies in Enron trial

HOUSTON -- Enron Corp. tried to dodge accounting rules by dropping a plan to sell assets in a failed water business, a former Arthur Andersen LLP accountant said on Monday. John R. Sult, who oversaw the books on Enron's Azurix water venture for Andersen, told jurors the energy trading company could avoid a writedown of hundreds of millions of dollars by promoting, instead, a $1 billion growth strategy for the unit. Enron founder Kenneth Lay and former chief executive officer Jeffrey Skilling are beginning the eighth week of their federal fraud and conspiracy trial.

Two bodies found in La. six months after hurricane

NEW ORLEANS -- More than six months after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, a coroner said Monday that two more bodies have been found in this city's hurricane-devastated Lower Ninth Ward. Health officials say about 1,100 people have died in Louisiana because of the Hurricane. The death toll is 231 in Mississippi. Louisiana medical examiner Dr. Louis Cataldie said the latest bodies were found Sunday in a collapsed house where rubble was being cleared.

Australia hit by massive storm ; no lives lost

INNISFAIL, Australia -- Soldiers carried aid to the cyclone-shattered town of Innisfail Tuesday as residents picked through streets littered with rubble and mangled roofs destroyed by one of Australia's most powerful cyclones in decades. Troop trucks rumbled through the streets of Innisfail, the town of 8,500 that bore the brunt of category-5 Cyclone Larry when it slammed into the coast of northeast Australia just before dawn Monday. By today it had been downgraded to a tropical storm. Amazingly, the storm caused no reported fatalities, and only 30 people suffered minor injuries.

Protesters defy Belarus authorities with rallies

MINSK, Belarus -- Thousands of opposition supporters gathered in the center of the Belarus' capital for a second night, hoping their protest would help overturn a presidential election that the U.S. said was flawed by a "climate of fear." The gathering was smaller than on election night Sunday, and prospects for a Ukraine-style "Orange Revolution" seemed remote, especially as midnight passed and the numbers dwindled to the hundreds. But with overnight temperatures at 28 degrees, protesters vowed to turn the demonstration into a round-the-clock presence.

Chaos in Gaza as gunmen clash with police

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Thirty Fatah gunmen, most of them wearing masks, broke into a government compound in Gaza City on Monday, fired their rifles in the air and demanded jobs. Minutes later, scores of police charged into the compound to root out the invaders, setting off a 25-minute gunbattle that sent workers diving under their desks, shattered windows and air conditioners. Stray bullets wounded two unarmed security guards. The battle, witnessed by an Associated Press reporter, was one of five confrontations between militants and police on Monday that left 23 people injured. The clashes highlighted the Gaza Strip's raging chaos, which will present a daunting challenge to the incoming Hamas government.

-- From wire reports