World briefs 4/17/05

Pakistan's president arrives in India for talks

NEW DELHI, India -- Mixing cricket with diplomacy, Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf arrived in India on Saturday for his first visit there since 2001, a three-day journey to bring "a message of peace and unity." The new trip comes at an ideal time as India-Pakistan peace talks, stumbling along since early 2004, seem to have found their footing. On landing in New Delhi, Musharraf said the current visit offered a "unique opportunity to address all our bilateral issues," including the dispute over Kashmir, the Himalayan territory divided between the two nations and the cause of two of their three wars.

Palestinian leader says elections will be on time

JERUSALEM -- Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday he planned to hold parliamentary elections on schedule, while the militant Hamas threatened to reconsider its already shaky truce with Israel if the July 17 vote is delayed. Other Palestinian officials, however, left open the possibility that the vote could be held up until after Israel's evacuation of settlements in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, scheduled to begin in late July. The Islamic militant group Hamas suspects Abbas' ruling Fatah party wants to buy time to try to recover some of the popular support it has lost to Hamas.

Sunni militants attack mosque in central Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqi security forces surrounded a central Iraqi village Sunday after Sunni militants took as many as 100 Shiite Muslims hostage and threatened to kill the captives if other Shiites did not leave town. The explosive sectarian standoff played out, as 17 people -- including an American soldier -- were killed in insurgent attacks elsewhere in Iraq. Late Saturday, insurgents fired mortar rounds at a U.S. Marine base near Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, the military said, adding that there were no American casualties.