Missing teen found after nine months
SALT LAKE CITY — In a turn of events that her family calls a miracle, 15-year-old Elizabeth Smart was found after being abducted from her home nine months ago.
Smart was found in Sandy, Utah, 20 miles south of her family’s Salt Lake City home. The girl had been kidnapped during the summer after an intruder snuck in through her bedroom window.
Ed Smart, the girl’s father, gave a teary speech after the news of her recovery broke.
“All of the children out there deserve to come back to their parents the way Elizabeth has come back to us,” he said at a press conference.
“I am so happy and so grateful for the prayers and the help and the eyes out there,” he added “It is absolutely wonderful.”
Smart was found after two people reported suspicious activity. Police then apprehended Brian David Mitchell, also known as Emmanuel and another woman he was with.
Mitchell had worked in the Smart home before the girl’s disappearance.
Bush appeals to U.N. for war on Iraq
WASHINGTON — While the Bush administration made its last appeals to win diplomatic and public support Sunday, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein counterattacked by inviting chief U.N. weapons inspectors to Baghdad March 17.
The date is America’s proposed deadline for Iraq to disarm or face war.
Iraqi Maj. Gen. Hossam Mohammed Amin said Iraq is hoping to convince Hans Blix, the top U.N. inspector, and his monitors to certify that Iraq does not have weapons of mass destruction, and therefore get rid of the pretext for war.
Blix has not replied to the invitation.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States is “within striking distance” of getting the required nine votes from the U.N. Security Council on an ultimatum giving Saddam until March 17 to disarm.
Hamas militants vow revenge for killings
GAZA CITY — The militant Islamic group Hamas vowed Saturday to assassinate Israeli politicians for the killing of one of its top religious leaders.
Ibrahim Makadmeh, a close associate of Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin, was killed in a missile strike by Israeli forces. Makadmeh, 51, was an activist in a predecessor to Hamas called the Muslim Brotherhood.
Hamas has claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing last Wednesday of a bus in the northern Israeli city of Haifa.
Meanwhile, dozens of Israeli tanks have been located in northern Gaza in what Palesinians consider to be a precursor to a complete takeover of the coastal strip.
Spanish investigators arrest al Qaeda men
PARIS — An al Qaeda money-laundering operation allegedly run by four Spaniards and a Pakistani has been dismantled by Spanish investigators, authorities said.
The four suspects were accused of using their companies to send funds to al Qaeda operatives around the world, after raids by 
paramilitary Guardia Civil in the Spanish cities of Valencia and Logrono.
The arrests are one of the few cases in Europe in which non-Muslim, non-Arab business people allegedly played a financial role in Islamic terrorist activity.
Suspects in Spain allegedly helped fund a network in France, Germany and Pakistan that bombed a synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba last April.
The Spanish interior minister said Spanish investigators worked closely with authorities from France and Germany.
Arafat offers prime position to rival
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat suggested the appointment of his greatest political threat to the post of prime minister.
Mahmoud Abbas has a revolutionary background and has clashed with Arafat over limitations of his power.
Abbas’ appointment could deplete Arafat’s authority, but Arafat had no choice due to pressure from the international community.
“The international community desperately wants to see any change. They’re hoping this might break the deadlock,” Nasser Kidwa, the Palestinian representative to the United Nations, said.
Creating the post of prime minister was originally part of a broad Palestinian plan for reform.
Black Hawk craft crashes in New York
FORT DRUM, N.Y. — A Black Hawk helicopter carrying 13 people crashed Tuesday in upstate New York, military officials said. Officials said there were only two survivors.
“I would like to extend my condolences to the families of our fallen comrades,” Maj. Gen. Franklin Hagenbeck said. “I want to assure you that we will fully investigate this terrible accident and do everything in our power to take care of all the families involved in this tragedy.”
The helicopter. a widely used transport aircraft, had no indication of problems before the crash, officials said.
The last radio contact the Black Hawk made was shortly before 2 p.m. Rescue crews located the crash site less than two hours later.
Another Black Hawk crash took place last month in the Kuwaiti desert, killing all four crew members.
Rebels present offer to new government
ACCRA, Ghana — Rebels in the Ivory Coast said Saturday that they would cede claims on key Cabinet positions if the president allowed the prime minister to fill those posts.
If President Laurent Gbagbo accepts the rebel offer, the way for a new, rebel-included government could open, as envisioned in a peace accord made in January.
Gbagbo has insisted that he alone will name the Cabinet, but did not attend the meeting in Ghana.
In a statement, the rebels said an agreement by Friday to their offer would result in their satisfaction with two lower ministries.
Consequences if the deadline passes were not stated.
The Ivory Coast has been split between rebel- and government-held regions since a failed coup in September. It is the world’s biggest producer of cocoa and a regional economic power.
Strike leader escapes secret police arrest
CARACAS, Venezuela — In an anti-government demonstration Saturday in Caracas, secret police failed to arrest a strike leader.
The former oil executive, Juan Fernandez, was the leader of a two-month strike aimed to force President Hugo Chavez’s resignation.
The strike ended early last month without desired results.
Chavez accused his enemies of committing high profile crimes, including bombing Colombian and Spanish diplomatic missions in Caracas last month. No arrests have yet been made for the bombings.
Detectives said the killings were not politically motivated, despite the belief of protesters.
— Compiled from news sources
March 13, 2003