World datelines
China: Monks disrupt tourLHASA — A group of Tibetan monks disrupted a tour by foreign reporters to Lhasa Thursday, complaining that there is no religious freedom and that the Dalai Lama is not to blame for recent violence there.
About 30 monks surged into a carefully stage-managed visit to the Jokang Temple in Lhasa by foreign reporters. They yelled "Tibet is not free. Tibet is not free."
They also said their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, had nothing to do with recent anti-government riots by Tibetans in Lhasa, where buildings were torched and ethnic Han Chinese were attacked. Government handlers tried to pull the journalists away when the monks protested.
President Bush sharply confronted China's President Hu Jintao on Wednesday about Beijing's harsh crackdown.
In a telephone call with Hu, Bush "pushed very hard" about violence in Tibet, the White House said.
Britain: No royal plane
LONDON — The British government said Wednesday it is scrapping plans to buy a jet plane for the prime minister and Queen Elizabeth II.
But the Department for Transport said officials decided Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the royal family should continue to use scheduled flights or charter commercial planes when they need to fly overseas.
The plan had called for the government to acquire two planes — a large jet for overseas travel and a small aircraft for short-haul flights.
Egypt: U.S. Navy apologizes
CAIRO — The U.S. Navy expressed regret Wednesday that an Egyptian citizen was killed when a navy-contracted ship fired warning shots at approaching motor boats in the Suez Canal.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident late Monday, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and the U.S. Navy maintained that according to the security team aboard the vessel there were no casualties.
But on Wednesday, an embassy statement said it "appears that an Egyptian in the boat was killed by one of the warning shots."
Mohammed Fouad was buried Tuesday amid expressions of anger against the Egyptian government and the U.S. by family members.
Iran: U.N. sanctions targeted
Iran is demanding compensation for what it says are illegal U.N. sanctions in the dispute over the Iranian nuclear program.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says in a letter to U.N. officials obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press that Iran will not obey Security Council resolutions ordering that it suspend uranium enrichment because the body's actions are inconsistent with the U.N. Charter.
Israel: Olmert 'determined'
JERUSALEM — Israel's prime minister said Wednesday he is "absolutely determined" to forge a peace deal with the moderate Palestinian leadership based in the West Bank, but said Israel will deal with the Hamas militants ruling the Gaza Strip in ways that will be "very painful."
Appearing before international journalists in Jerusalem, Ehud Olmert shot down allegations that his government is not doing enough to bolster Palestinian moderates through confidence building measures such as reducing the number of army checkpoints in the West Bank.
He also called for concerted world action to prevent Iran from acquiring weapons of mass destruction.
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