World briefs 12/18/03

U.S. farm leaders call for end to Cuba embargo

HAVANA -- American farm leaders called for an end to the U.S. trade embargo on Wednesday during talks with communist Cuba that have resulted in at nearly $110 million in new U.S. food sales to the island. Interest by American food companies in doing more business to Cuba has grown even as the U.S. government tightens restriction on the island, including stepped-up enforcement of rules on American travel. Representing 147 agribusinesses, port authorities, supermarkets and other enterprises, the Americans traveled here for talks to mark the second anniversary of the first U.S. commercial food shipments to post-revolutionary Cuba.

Britain plans 'short, sharp' Northern Ireland effort

LONDON -- Britain will launch a "short and sharp" new round of negotiations to fix the problems besetting Northern Ireland's 1998 peace accord, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday after meeting three party delegations from the British territory. Blair, speaking beside Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, said he remained confident that power-sharing between British Protestants and Irish Catholics could be revived. He said talks starting next month in Belfast would dissect what went wrong in the province's previous Catholic-Protestant administration, which fell apart 14 months ago over an Irish Republican Army spying scandal.

North Korea rolls out rules for industrial zone

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea announced complex regulations Wednesday for those who would do business in its heralded Kaesong Industrial Zone. The long list of customs and immigration rules, adopted Dec. 11 by the Supreme People's Assembly, were seen as the next step toward the opening of a joint North-South industrial park. The site now is just a field outside the ancient Korean capital of Kaesong, a city of 400,000 just north of the no man's land that separates North from South. The Seoul government in the south said the regulations were a positive sign that the reclusive North was moving ahead with the opening despite being increasingly at odds with the United States over its nuclear weapons program.

Israeli vice premier toughens West Bank talk

JERUSALEM -- Israel's vice prime minister stepped up his calls for a sizable withdrawal from the West Bank on Wednesday, urging a clear "separation" between Israelis and the Palestinians. Egyptian mediators, meanwhile, wrapped up their latest effort to persuade Palestinian militant groups to halt attacks on Israelis. No progress was reported. In an effort to boost the cease-fire effort, Egypt's foreign minister next week will make his first trip to Israel in two years, both countries said. In new violence, Palestinian militants detonated two bombs near an Israeli guard post near the Egyptian border in the Gaza Strip, causing significant damage but no injuries, the army said.

November 17 leader, chief gunman sentenced

ATHENS, Greece -- A court handed multiple life sentences Wednesday to the leader, chief assassin and three other members of Greece's November 17 terror organization, a blow to the once-shadowy group that evaded capture for 27 years. Greece's government -- which heralded the convictions of the men as evidence of its commitment to fight terrorism ahead of the 2004 Summer Olympics -- claims the group is now wiped out, though police say some members remain at large. The terror group, Greece's deadliest, was blamed for 23 murders and dozens of rockets and bomb attacks since 1975. Its victims included four U.S. officials, two Turkish diplomats and a British defense attache.

Iran will sign additional nuclear protocol

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran will sign an agreement today giving unfettered access to its nuclear facilities, the vice president said. Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh, who is also the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, said Wednesday that the protocol would be signed in Vienna by a representative of Iran's Foreign Ministry. She gave no further details. The United States and the three main European powers have been pushing for the additional protocol to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty since it became evident that Iran had an advanced nuclear program that Washington suspects is geared toward making weapons.

-- From wire reports