Neighbors back Kosovar nation

PODGORICA - Both Montenegro and Macedonia recognized Kosovo's independence on Thursday, despite opposition from Serbia, which called the moves by its Balkan neighbors a betrayal and expelled the Montenegrin ambassador from Belgrade.

The moves represent a major blow to Serbia's diplomatic efforts to maintain a claim over Kosovo, considered by Serbs to be the cradle of their Orthodox Christian religion and statehood.

Montenegro and Macedonia - both seeking membership in NATO and the European Union - have been under pressure from the United States and some EU countries to recognize Kosovo's February declaration of independence.

Iran

Strike stirs halt to new sales tax

TEHRAN - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered his government to suspend a controversial new sales tax Thursday, a day after a rare strike by merchants worried about how the new measure would affect their business.

The 3 percent value-added tax imposed in Septem-ber sparked fears of price hikes and added to the list of unpopular economic steps like rationing of subsidized gasoline that Ahmadinejad has taken to shore up the government's budget.

Ahmadinejad's economic policies have caused increasing dissatisfaction; inflation reached 29.4 percent in September.

A series of merchant strikes helped lead to the 1979 Islamic revolution, with store owners joining clerics to help topple King Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. That history adds to the political significance of the strike held Wednesday.

District of Columbia

IDs confirmed of 2 in freezer

WASHINGTON - Police in Maryland said Thursday they are confident that two girls found encased in ice in a basement freezer are the adopted daughters of a woman suspected of killing them.

Montgomery County police said they have tentatively identified the girls as Jasmine Nicole Bowman, who would have been 9, and Minnet Cecila Bowman, who would have been 11.

Police found the bodies last month in Renee Bowman's freezer in Lusby. They believe the children may have been dead since at least last November, when the family moved from Rockville, about 60 miles away in Montgomery County. Bowman, 43, is a suspect but has not been charged in the deaths; she is charged with abusing a third adopted daughter who was found alive.

SNAPSHOTS

Sea yields bodies: The bodies of the brother of two Southern California congresswomen and his girlfriend were recovered from the waters off Los Angeles, days after their boat apparently collided with a barge, authorities said Thursday. The bodies of Henry Sanchez, 51, brother of Democratic Reps. Loretta and Linda Sanchez, and and Penny Avila, 48, were pulled from the wreckage of Sanchez's 26-foot motor boat.

Yom Kippur clash: Arabs and Jews traded blows and threw rocks in the northern Israeli city of Acre on Thursday, in a second day of sectarian violence that marred the somber Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. Acre is one of only a few Arab-Jewish towns in Israel; police said violence erupted after an Arab driver entered a predominantly Jewish sector of the city and was attacked by Jewish youths.

- Compiled by Henry Bailey

Originally published by From Our Press Services .

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