MEXICO CITY
Candidate seeks alliance against fraud
The presidential candidate of Mexico’s former ruling party, lagging in the polls, raised the possibility of a tactical alliance with a rival to combat alleged government interference in the July 2 election.
Roberto Madrazo of the Institutional Revolutionary Party alleges that President Vicente Fox has been using the government to promote his own party’s candidate, a complaint echoed by leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the Democratic Revolution Party.
Madrazo said he was considering asking Lopez Obrador to jointly contest alleged government favoritism on behalf of Felipe Calderon of the National Action Party. Fox has denied aiding his conservative party and says he will respect the outcome of the election.
VIENNA
Iran not budging on uranium suspension
Iran could be offered an end to U.N. Security Council pressure if it agrees to suspend uranium enrichment but faces sanctions backed by the threat of force if it refuses, under a proposal being considered by world powers, diplomats said Saturday.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told journalists in Kuwait City that while Iran wants the council to end its involvement, “suspending nuclear activities goes against our legitimate rights and is not part of the NPT,” or Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
The draft proposal on Iran is being considered by the five permanent Security Council nations plus Germany and could still undergo revision before the six powers sit down Wednesday to approve it, a diplomat said.
TEHRAN
Bill may use patches to ID non-Muslims
A draft law moving through parliament encourages Iranians to wear Islamic clothing to protect the country’s Muslim identity but does not mention special attire for religious minorities, according to a copy obtained Saturday by The Associated Press.
The 13-article bill received preliminary approval a week ago.
On Friday, the Canadian newspaper The National Post, quoting Iranian exiles, said the law would force Jews, Christians and other religious minorities to wear patches of colored cloth to distinguish them from Muslims.
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said any such measure would be “despicable” and carry “clear echoes of Germany under Hitler” – referring to the yellow Star of David that Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan
34 dead in flare-up of Islamic extremists
Militants hiding in a vineyard and armed with machine guns ambushed an Afghan army convoy Saturday, shooting dead four soldiers but losing 15 of their own. Violence elsewhere killed another 15 people – including two French troops and a U.S. soldier.
The 34 deaths came amid some of the worst fighting in Afghanistan since the ouster of the Taliban in 2001 and reinforced fears of a resurgence of Islamic extremists. A 24-hour spasm of violence killed 120 people last week, before calming briefly. It erupted again Friday with six militants, an Afghan soldier and a civilian killed in Helmand province, the main opium poppy- growing region.
SEOUL, South Korea
N. Koreans climb fence seeking asylum
Four North Koreans overpowered a security guard and scaled the wall of a U.S. consulate in China in hopes of gaining asylum from their impoverished, communist country, South Korean media reported Saturday.
A newspaper said the four entered the U.S. consulate in the northeastern city of Shenyang from the neighboring South Korean consulate by climbing a wall separating the two compounds. The paper said they were applying for asylum and resettlement in the United States.
