Nation/world digest 11/16/05

Pension agency has $22.8 billion deficit

WASHINGTON -- The federal agency that insures the private pensions of 44 million workers said Tuesday that its deficit was $22.8 billion in 2005, as big airlines in bankruptcy dumped their pension liabilities. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. disclosed in its annual financial report that as of Sept. 30, it had $56.5 billion in assets to cover $79.2 billion in pension liabilities. There has been an explosion in recent years in the number of big, ailing companies transferring their pension liabilities to the PBGC. Some experts predict that without a legislative overhaul, the PBGC eventually will run out of money to pay its claims. That would mean that people retiring from financially troubled companies would have nowhere else to turn for their promised pension payments -- raising the possibility of a taxpayer bailout.

FBI arrests suspected 'cell phone bandit'

CENTREVILLE, Va. -- FBI agents arrested a woman Tuesday who was suspected of robbing four banks in suburban Virginia while appearing to be talking on a cell phone. Candice R. Martinez, 19, was arrested just before 4 a.m. at a home in nearby Centreville, Va. after an FBI agent spotted a car nearby with license plates they had been searching for. Martinez is suspected of robbing four Wachovia Bank branches between Oct. 12 and Nov. 4. According to an affidavit filed by the FBI, Martinez confessed to the four robberies.

Yellowstone grizzly could become average bear

WASHINGTON -- Grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park should be removed from the endangered species list, the Department of Interior said Tuesday. Grizzly bears in the region, which includes parts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, had dwindled to 220 to 320 animals in 1975, when they were listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Since then, the Interior Department says, the number of bears in that region has grown at a rate of 4 percent to 7 percent a year, and they now number about 600. Environmental groups are split over the issue. The bears could be removed from the list as early as 2006.

Israelis, Palestinians reach deal on Gaza border

JERUSALEM -- Israel and the Palestinians reached an agreement Tuesday to open Gaza's borders starting Nov. 25, a step vital to turning the economically crippled territory into a success in the wake of Israel's withdrawal. The deal, struck during a marathon negotiating session run by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, gives Palestinians control over a border for the first time, allowing them to travel freely into Egypt and to export their goods. Israel will be able to see who comes and goes, with the help of European monitors, but Palestinians will retain final authority.

173 Iraqi detainees show signs of hunger, torture

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's prime minister said Tuesday that 173 Iraqi detainees -- malnourished and showing signs of torture -- were found at an Interior Ministry basement lockup seized by U.S. forces in Baghdad. After the revelation about the mostly Sunni Arab detainees, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite, promised a full investigation and punishment for anyone found guilty of torture. Sunni politicians have been complaining of torture, abuse and arbitrary arrest by special commandos of the Shiite-controlled Interior Ministry since the government took power last April.

Senate rejects call for Iraq withdrawal timetable

WASHINGTON -- The GOP-controlled Senate rejected a Democratic call Tuesday for a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq but urged President Bush to outline his plan for "the successful completion of the mission" in a bill reflecting a growing bipartisan unease with his Iraq policies. The overall measure, adopted 98-0, would also restrict the techniques used to interrogate terror suspects, ban their inhuman treatment and call for the administration to provide lawmakers with quarterly reports on the status of operations in Iraq. The bill included support for the military tribunals Bush wants to use to try detainees at the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

China, Vietnam: Extreme measures to fight bird flu

HANOI, Vietnam -- Two of the countries hardest hit by bird flu announced extreme measures to fight the disease Tuesday, with China promising to vaccinate its entire poultry stock of 14 billion birds and Vietnam launching a campaign to purge its two largest cities of poultry. China said it will pay all fees involved but did not elaborate on how vaccinations would be carried out. In Vietnam, government officials in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi have warned farmers to kill or sell all poultry by Monday. They will be compensated at half the current market value if they act now.

Bush: China should grant more political freedom

KYOTO, Japan -- President Bush prodded China on Wednesday to grant more political freedom to its 1.3 billion people and held up archrival Taiwan as a society that moved from repression to democracy as it opened its economy. "Modern Taiwan is free and democratic and prosperous. By embracing freedom at all levels, Taiwan has delivered prosperity to its people and created a free and democratic Chinese society," the president said. Bush made his remarks in the advance text of a speech that was to be the cornerstone address of his Asian trip. From Japan, he will continue to South Korea, China and Mongolia.

-- From wire reports