TORONTO

Canada opts out of U.S. missile defense

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin said yesterday that Canada would not join the contentious U.S. missile defense program, a decision that will further strain brittle relations between the neighbors but please Canadians who fear it could lead to an international arms race.

Martin, ending nearly two years of debate over whether Canada should participate in the development or operation of the multibillion-dollar program, said Ottawa would remain a close ally of Washington in the fight against global terrorism and continental security.

He said he intended to talk to President Bush later Thursday and that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had been informed of the decision earlier this week.

A State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States had been informed beforehand of the decision, adding that Washington expects that cooperation with Canada will continue on a wide variety of issues.

DAMASCUS, Syria

Syria to withdraw troops from Lebanon

Syria will withdraw troops from mountain and coastal areas in Lebanon in line with a 1989 agreement, Lebanon’s defense minister said Thursday amid international pressure following the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Lebanese Defense Minister Abdul-Rahim Murad said the troops will be withdrawn to the eastern Bekaa Valley on the Syrian border, but he gave no timeframe.

Lebanese and Syrian military officers have begun meetings to define “the dates and the way” the withdrawal will take place, Murad said, adding that the pullback was in line with the Arab-brokered Taif agreement that ended Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war.

“The decision to withdraw has been taken,” Murad said in television interviews. “What remains is the exact timing.”

In the wake of Hariri’s Feb. 14 assassination, the Bush administration has issued strong calls for Syria to withdraw completely from Lebanon, where Damascus has about 15,000 troops. The Americans have also said Syria should remove its intelligence agents, but there was no sign of such a move.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States has

RAMALLAH, West Bank

Palestinian government approves new Cabinet

Nearly half of the 24 ministers joining a new Palestinian Cabinet on Thursday hold doctorates — many earned at topflight universities in the United States or elsewhere in the West.

The new lineup of doctors, lawyers, engineers and economists embrace a one-word credo — reform — in sharp contrast to the outgoing body of Yasser Arafat cronies.

After swearing-in his new ministers late Thursday, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas told reporters, “They are young and professional ... We have chosen them very carefully.”

The Cabinet revolution, spurred by lawmakers’ demand for a clean sweep of the political hacks associated with Arafat’s corruption-plagued regime,

BAGHDAD, Iraq

Iraqi TV airs tape of Syrian intelligence officer

The Syrian intelligence officer who appeared on the U.S.-funded Iraqi state television station had a stark message about the insurgency — he’d helped train people to build car bombs and behead people.

“My name is Anas Ahmed al-Essa. I live in Halab. I am from Syria,” he said by way of introduction — naming what he said was his home in Syria. Halab is another name for Aleppo, a city north of Damascus.

“What’s your job?” he was asked by someone off-camera. “I am a lieutenant in intelligence.”

Then a second question. “Which intelligence?” The reply: “Syrian intelligence.”

And so began a detailed 15-minute confession broadcast by al-Iraqiya TV on Wednesday, in which the man, identified as 30-year-old Lt. Anas Ahmed al-Essa, said his group was recruited to “cause chaos in Iraq ... to bar America from reaching Syria.”

 

compiled from Daily wire reports