AFGHANISTAN
Dutch defense chief's son killed The son of the Dutch defense minister was killed Friday by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. Lt. Dennis van Uhm, 23, was one of two Dutch soldiers killed in the blast 7 miles northwest of Camp Holland, the Dutch military base in southern Uruzgan Province. Two soldiers also were injured.
Van Uhm's father, Gen. Peter van Uhm, was installed only Thursday as the Netherlands' defense chief. Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende called Van Uhm's death "an unprecedented tragedy."
A purported Taliban spokesman claimed that the insurgents knew in advance about Van Uhm's movements and planted the mine that killed him, but the Dutch government dismissed the claim. "Our information is that there is no indication of any link between this cowardly deed and the fact that it was the son of the defense chief," Balkenende told reporters.
He would not say whether Van Uhm, who began his tour of duty in Afghanistan about two weeks ago, had received any special protection.
Earlier this year, the British military pulled Prince Harry from Afghanistan after news leaked that he was posted there. He had spent almost 10 weeks in volatile Helmand Province, his deployment kept secret by officials.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LUXEMBOURG - European justice and interior ministers agreed Friday to strengthen European Union anti-terrorism rules, making the incitement of violence and recruiting of people for attacks criminal offenses across the 27-nation bloc.
They also agreed on a separate plan for tighter controls on the use and sale of explosives and detonators.
While most of the union's member states already had such rules on their national law books, the E.U. regulation will standardize definitions of the crimes, making it easier for police to hunt down suspects in cross-border investigations.
The bloc set up Europe-wide anti-terrorism laws after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to ensure extremist groups did not benefit from legal loopholes among E.U. nations.
Separately, the E.U. ministers agreed to set up a European database to monitor cases of stolen explosives. It will be run by the union's policing agency, Europol, as part of an early warning system that would also monitor who buys certain essential parts for explosive devices.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
As Congress gears up to debate President Bush's latest request for $108 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, legislators in both parties are pointing to record-high oil prices and demanding that Iraq pay a larger share of the costs, especially for reconstruction efforts.
In a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a group of 10 senators -- six Democrats and four Republicans -- wrote that Iraq was likely to see a "financial windfall" of about $56 billion from high oil prices and that it should be forced to spend that money.
"The time has come to end this blank-check policy and require the Iraqis to invest in their own future," the senators wrote.
The rising clamor, particularly among Republican legislators who face tough reelection challenges, are ratcheting up the pressure on the Bush administration ahead of what is likely to be a pitched battle over the war spending bill.
SADR CITY PARTITION GETS TESTY RECEPTION
Followers of Shiite radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr denounced the U.S. military's construction of a concrete wall through their Sadr City stronghold in Baghdad, the scene of renewed clashes Friday between his militiamen and U.S. and Iraqi troops.
The wall -- a concrete barrier of varying height up to about 12 feet -- is being built along a main street dividing the southern portion of Sadr City from the northern, where Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army gunmen are concentrated.
U.S. commanders hope the Sadr City wall will effectively cut off insurgents' ability to move freely into the rest of Baghdad. Such walls have gone up in many other Baghdad neighborhoods and have been effective in cutting violence as the movement of insurgents was curtailed. But they have also raised some complaints from residents over difficulties in moving in and out through checkpoints.
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