World briefs 1/16/04

Health workers plan to immunize, wipe out polio

GENEVA -- Health ministers from six countries where polio is still endemic announced plans at the World Health Organization on Thursday to immunize 250 million children during 2004 and wipe out the final reservoirs of the disease. International campaigns have brought polio -- which used to paralyze and cripple hundreds of thousands of children every year -- to the verge of elimination. But the disease has persisted in a few countries -- even increased and spreading back into some areas in recent years.

Shiites back cleric's call for elections in Iraq

BASRA, Iraq -- Tens of thousands of Shiite Muslims shouting "No to America!" marched Thursday through this southern city to back their spiritual leader's call for early elections, a stand that could stymie a U.S. blueprint for transferring power to a new Iraqi administration. The peaceful demonstration in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, came amid a string of bombings and clashes across the country over recent days that has killed 23 people. In the latest incident, a passenger bus in Tikrit on Thursday ran over a land mine, which exploded, killing at least three Iraqis.

Iranian reformists insist all be allowed to run

TEHRAN, Iran -- Reformist lawmakers vowed Thursday to keep up their sit-in protests at parliament despite intervention from Iran's supreme leader aimed at resolving a political crisis over the barring of candidates from next month's elections. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday ordered the 12-member Guardian Council he appoints to reconsider its disqualification of more than 3,000 people -- including 80 sitting reformist lawmakers -- as candidates for Feb. 20 elections. The disqualifications were seen as an attempt to bolster hard-liners in the long-simmering power struggle with allies of President Mohammad Khatami, who seek social and political reform.

-- From wire reports