Rice to suggest reforms in Saudi Arabia
JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia – Just days after criticizing Saudi Arabia as a place with no tolerance for religious minorities, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has a full agenda in the kingdom, an important Arab ally estranged by the Sept. 11 attacks four years ago.
Rice’s trip to the conservative Islamic kingdom also recalled another terror attack last December when al-Qaida gunmen stormed into the inner courtyard of a U.S. consulate in this port city firing their guns, grabbing human shields and killing five people. Four of the attackers were killed.
The State Department cited Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for denying religious freedom to non-Muslims and found fault to a lesser degree with other allies including Israel, Belgium, France, Germany and Pakistan.
“Freedom of religion does not exist” in Saudi Arabia, the report said. “Islam is the official religion and all citizens must be Muslims.”
Schwarzenegger travels to China on trade mission
BEIJING – After the bruising defeat of his reform package in last week’s special election, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s trade mission to China offers him the chance to represent California in a country where his political woes are overshadowed by his celebrity.
Schwarzenegger arrives Monday for a six-day visit that will also take him to Shanghai and Hong Kong. Accompanying him are his wife, first lady Maria Shriver, several Cabinet secretaries and a delegation of 80 business leaders.
“Folks coming along recognize they want the exposure a celebrity like the governor can bring,” said Jeff Williamson, director of the state’s Center for International Trade Development. “Coming to China, meeting with people, the governor’s persona will attract people. And that’s very useful to these companies.”
Japanese probe apparently lost in space
TOKYO – Japan’s space agency suffered another glitch in its mission to collect surface samples from an asteroid and return to Earth when a can-sized robot lander apparently became lost in space while attempting a practice touch down.
The rehearsal landing followed an earlier attempt that was aborted due to mechanical trouble, but the space agency said it is still targeting actual landings on the potato-shaped asteroid Itokawa on Nov. 19 and Nov. 25.
The Hayabusa probe successfully released the Minerva surface-exploring robot on Saturday, but Minerva appeared to start drifting away from the asteroid’s surface, according to a release from JAXA, Japan’s space agency. Minerva was expected to land and hop around on the asteroid’s surface collecting data with three small color cameras.
Tornadoes hit Iowa, killing at least one
STRATFORD, Iowa – One woman was found dead under a pile of fallen bricks and another was pulled alive from the rubble a few feet away as searchers combed through two central Iowa communities ravaged by weekend tornadoes.
The twisters swept across two counties Saturday late afternoon, ripping up farms and damaging dozens of homes in the towns of Stratford and Woodward. At least one person was killed, two were injured and a natural gas leak forced hundreds of other residents from their homes overnight.
“Half the town’s gone,” Bob Smith said of the destruction in Stratford, a town of about 750 residents.