World briefs 2/6/06

Israel agrees to transfer money to Palestinians

JERUSALEM -- Israel agreed Sunday to transfer $54 million in desperately needed tax money to the Palestinian Authority, but said it might freeze payments after the Islamic group Hamas forms the next Palestinian government. Israel's monthly transfer of the taxes and customs duties it collects on behalf of the Palestinians is crucial to the functioning of the Palestinian Authority. Halting the payments would deepen the government's financial crisis and add to the growing international pressure on Hamas to renounce violence and recognize Israel before it takes power. Also Sunday, the army conducted a wave of airstrikes in Gaza that killed five militants. The army said the strikes were meant to deter rocket fire from Gaza. Also Sunday, a Palestinian assailant killed an Israeli woman and wounded four people in a stabbing rampage on a bus in the central Israeli town of Petah Tikva. Police said the attack was politically motivated.

Interpol: Plotter of USS Cole attack escapes prison

SAN'A, Yemen -- An al-Qaida operative sentenced to death for plotting the USS Cole bombing that killed 17 sailors in 2000 was among a group of convicts who escaped from a Yemen prison last week, Interpol said Sunday in issuing a global security alert. Officials set up checkpoints around the capital of San'a, where the prison was located, to try to catch the escapees before they could flee to the protection of mountain tribes, according to a Yemeni security official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press. Yemeni officials said Jamal al-Badawi -- a man convicted of plotting, preparing and helping carry out the Cole bombing -- was among the fugitives, Interpol said. Al-Badawi was among those sentenced to death in September 2004 for plotting the Oct. 12, 2000, attack.

--From wire reports