NEW YORK (AP) — Amnesty International says weapons from China, Russia and Belarus are fueling the nine-year-old conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.

A report released late Wednesday by the rights group says arms manufactured and supplied from the three countries — "or evidence of their use" — have been found in Darfur and other conflict areas near the border with newly independent South Sudan.

The report documents how China, Russia and Belarus continue to supply weapons and munitions to Sudan despite evidence the arms will be used against civilians in Darfur. It says exports include ammunition, helicopter gunships, attack aircrafts, air-to-ground rockets and armored vehicles.

Amnesty says the report highlights the need for U.N. control over the arms flow.

©2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon says he's been talking with the head of the Arab League about the possibility of a joint observer mission and a joint special envoy to Syria.

Ban's statements to reporters after briefing a closed session of the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday come amid a search for new diplomatic methods of dealing with the protracted violence in Syria.

Ban is reiterating his "deep regret" over the council's inability to speak in one clear voice to stop the bloodshed.

Russia and China used their veto powers on Saturday to block a council resolution backing an Arab League peace plan that calls for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step aside.

The U.N. says more than 5,400 people have died in Syria's 11-month crackdown on protests.

©2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Mario Monti is applying his national austerity drive to his own staff, telling them to cut out entertainment expenses and avoid organizing events unless they are indispensable.

His office said in a statement Wednesday night that Monti gave out "instructions" to ensure that both the premier's office as well as the economy ministry — which he also heads — are saving money and being efficient. It said objectives include avoiding all expenses not strictly necessary. In particular, staff were told to abstain from entertainment expenses and from organizing events and conventions that weren't indispensable.

Monti, appointed in November to lead a new government of technocrats and save Italy from financial disaster, has said all Italians must make sacrifices.

©2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Authorities in the Dominican Republic say the death toll from the sinking of a boat carrying migrants has risen to 41.

The intelligence director of the Dominican Republic's navy says 20 bodies were found late Tuesday and early Wednesday. Luis Castro said Wednesday that crews expect to find more bodies this week.

Officials earlier thought that more people had survived Saturday's accident and went into hiding because they had found no more bodies.

Seventy people were aboard the boat that capsized off the Dominican coast. Crews have rescued 13 people. Castro says that one of them will be arrested after leaving the hospital because he is suspected of helping organize the voyage.

©2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

PRAGUE (AP) — The Czech Parliament has approved changing the constitution to let the public elect the country's presidents instead of lawmakers.

The Senate, which is controlled by the opposition Social Democrats, voted 49-22 on Wednesday in favor of the change. Parliament's lower house gave its green light in December.

Future presidents will be elected in a two-round vote with the top two finishers advancing to the second round, unless one gets more than 50 percent in the first round.

The next presidential election for the mostly ceremonial post will be held in early 2013, when current President Vaclav Klaus must step down after two terms in office.

Political bickering among lawmakers during previous votes touched off calls for the electoral change.

©2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

ROME (AP) — A U.S. lawyer representing 70 survivors of the Costa Concordia capsizing says he will push for changes in maritime regulations and laws to make the cruise ship industry safer.

John Eaves, Jr., says in about two weeks he will file suits against Miami-based Carnival Corp., the parent company of Costa Crociere, SpA., the Italian cruise line whose ship rammed a reef off a Tuscan island on Jan. 13 and capsized. At least 17 people were killed, and 15 remain unaccounted for.

Eaves said in an interview Wednesday with The AP in Rome that he will lobby politicians and international maritime authorities to "change the way the cruise industry does business" to avoid a repeat of the tragedy.

©2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian judges say the evidence collected in the case against 19 Americans referred to court for their alleged involvement in banned political activity through nonprofit groups includes maps, cash and videos taken of churches and military facilities.

Egypt's crackdown on pro-democracy and rights groups has soured relations between Cairo and Washington, which has warned Egypt that it could cut some $1.5 billion in aid over the dispute.

Sameh Abu-Zeid, one of two judges investigating the case, for the first time outlined for reporters Wednesday the evidence authorities have collected in the investigation.

The comments echoed allegations repeatedly made by Egypt's ruling military council that "foreign hands" are plotting unrest in Egypt.

Among the Americans referred to court is the son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

©2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian troops bombed residential neighborhoods in the central city of Homs Wednesday for the fifth straight day, killing scores of people in what activists say is the regime's final push to retake areas controlled by the rebels.

The violence comes as President Bashar Assad's regime is becoming increasingly isolated over its bloody crackdown on dissent. Five European countries and six Arab Gulf nations have pulled their ambassadors out of Damascus, and the U.S. has closed its embassy in Syria. Germany, whose whose envoy Syria this month, also said he would not be replaced.

But Assad was bolstered Tuesday by a visit from Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Sergey Lavrov and the country's intelligence chief, Mikhail Fradkov. In the talks in Damascus, the Russians pushed for a solution to the Syrian crisis that would include reforms by the regime and a dialogue with the opposition — but not for Assad to step down.

During the meeting, Assad said Syria is determined to hold a national dialogue with the opposition and independent figures, saying his government was "ready to cooperate with any effort that boosts stability in Syria," according to the Syrian state news agency SANA.

The Syrian opposition rejects any talks with the regime and says they accept nothing less than Assad's departure.

On Saturday, Russia and China blocked a Western- and Arab-backed U.N. Security Council resolution supporting calls for Assad to hand over some powers as a way to defuse the 11-month-old crisis.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 50 people were killed in Wednesday's shelling of the Homs neighborhoods of Bayadah, Baba Amr, Khaldiyeh and Karm el-Zeytoun. The group also said that 23 homes were heavily damaged in Baba Amr alone.

Omar Shaker, an activist in Baba Amr, said his neighborhood was under "very intense shelling" by tanks, mortars, artilleries and heavy machine guns. Shaker added that he counted five bodies Wednesday in his district.

"The situation is dire. We are short of food, water and medical aid. Doctors have collapsed after treating the wounded without rest for five days," Shaker said. "We want Lavrov to come and spend a night in Homs to see what we have been passing through."

The activist urged the international community to set up a safe passage so that women and children can leave volatile areas of Homs. The head of the Observatory, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said the regime was trying "exhaust rebels in preparation for storming neighborhoods."

The Observatory and another activist group, the Local Coordination Committees, also reported intense clashes between troops loyal to Assad and defectors on Wednesday in the province of Idlib, bordering Turkey. The Observatory said at least five soldiers were killed in the clashes.

The U.N. estimates the government crackdown has killed more than 5,400 people since March, making Syria's conflict one of the deadliest of the Arab Spring.

Hundreds more are believed to have died since the U.N. released that figure in January, but the chaos in the country has made it impossible for the world body to update its figures.

___

Bassem Mroue can be reached on twitter at http://twitter.com/bmroue
 

©2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — There's a Persian saying used to describe an under-the-radar political effort: "Driving at night with the lights off." Allies of embattled President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may be doing just that as they campaign in Iran's hinterlands in hopes of scoring a comeback in next month's parliamentary elections.

The voting March 2nd should — momentarily, at least — shift attention from Iran's international standoffs over its nuclear program back to the country's internal power plays: The ruling system striking back against perceived runaway ambitions by Ahmadinejad and his inner circle.

The battles were Iran's top political spectator sport just six months ago before being eclipsed by the latest faceoff with the West, including tougher sanctions and widening speculation of a possible Israeli military strike on nuclear facilities. The elections now offer Ahmadinejad — who's been generally sidelined in the nuclear policymaking — a chance to reclaim some political ground after being smacked hard by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for openly challenging his authority.

Ahmadinejad's supporters are favoring stealth tactics for the first nationwide vote in Iran since the chaos after the disputed presidential outcome in June 2009.

They've turned from Tehran and other big cities — and away from the direct competition with rivals loyal to Khamenei — to focus on far-flung and poorer regions of the country. It's here that Ahmadinejad can deploy his most powerful tool: Access to government funds that are currently awash in Iranian rials because of an indirect benefit from sanctions.

The rial has nosedived in value while the government still brings in dollars from oil sales. This may allow Ahmadinejad's backers to make even bolder promises of handouts and other measures to ease consumer pain with prices of imported good sharply higher as sanctions squeeze businesses.

Any new pledges would add to some $40 a month that Ahmadinejad's government is paying to every Iranian after cutting parts of food and energy subsidies in 2010 — a significant amount for large families in impoverished areas.

A strong showing by Ahmadinejad's camp would send a message of resilience to the ruling clerics after the messy political feuds. It also could rekindle Ahmadinejad's hopes of getting an ally into next year's presidential race to succeed him and possibly prolong his influence as an elder statesman. Ahmadinejad is in his second four-year term, the maximum under Iran's term limits.

"They are 'driving with their lights off,'" said veteran lawmaker Hasan Ghafourifard, an Ahmadinejad critic. "But it's still not clear how much support they can get."

Even modest gains would be seen as an uptick for Ahmadinejad's political fortunes. The current parliament — dominated by Ahmadinejad opponents and hard-line Khamenei loyalists — is bearing down hard.

On Tuesday, lawmakers said they would issue an order this week to bring Ahmadinejad for questioning on alleged economic mismanagement and his spats with Khamenei. The summons was the first of its kind for an Iranian president since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Ahmadinejad had once been considered a favored son of Khamenei, who quickly endorsed the disputed 2009 election results even as protests swelled on Tehran's streets. The ties began to fray, however, as Ahmadinejad tried to expand the influence of the presidency into areas tightly controlled by the ruling theocracy, such as foreign policy and intelligence gathering.

A serious rupture occurred in April when Ahmadinejad threw a political tantrum after Khamenei's order to reinstate the intelligence minister, Heidar Moslehi, who had been dismissed by Ahmadinejad. The president boycotted Cabinet meetings for more than a week in an unprecedented show of disrespect to Iran's leader, who hard-liners believe is answerable only to God.

Dozens of Ahmadinejad aides were arrested or driven into the political margins. Hard-line media also began to smear Ahmadinejad's protege, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, as head of a "deviant current" that sought to undermine Islamic rule. Some critics even claimed that Mashaei conjured black magic spells to fog Ahmadinejad's mind.

The tensions grew so bitter that Khamenei suggested that Iran could someday abandon the presidency and return to a government selected by parliament.

The upcoming elections, however, pose a dilemma for the ruling system. It has the power to vet candidates and deny anyone with even a hint of pro-Ahmadinejad sentiments. But it also is desperate to avoid a low turnout, which could raise questions about national unity with Western pressures intensifying.

Khamenei last Friday urged the Guardian Council — which must clear all candidates — to keep the field wide. At the moment, more than 3,200 names have been approved out of some 5,500 hopefuls for the 290-seat parliament. Officials have predicted up to 60 percent turnout.

Noticeably absent is any political bloc drawing inspiration from the outlawed Green Movement, which led the outrage after Ahmadinejad's re-election, which protesters charged was rigged, and whose leaders are silenced under house arrest.

"The election is hot among political factions, but cold among the people," said Tehran-based political analyst Sajjad Salek. "Supporters of Ahmadinejad may be defeated in major centers, but they have a chance in small cities and towns."

Iran's parliament has no direct ability to force policy decisions on Khamenei or the powerful forces under his control, including the Revolutionary Guard military establishment.

But parliament's influential national security committee and other groups often help shape decisions on critical issues such as the nuclear standoff or efforts to ease the diplomatic deep freeze with the U.S. The current parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, served as Iran's chief nuclear negotiator.

Davood Hermidas Bavand, a prominent political commentator in Tehran, said a political boost from the parliamentary elections could encourage Ahmadinejad to spend his last year in office trying to open channels with Washington — which many believe Ahmadinejad seeks as part of his political legacy.

But Bavand acknowledges that the president could only take small steps.

"Major decisions, like improving ties with the U.S., have to be made at a higher level," he said.

___

Murphy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

©2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A former Israeli spymaster who has accused the country's leaders of barreling toward a rash military strike in Iran says Israel's survival is not at risk.

The assessment by Meir Dagan appeared to put him at odds with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has repeatedly warned that a nuclear-armed Iran could put Israel's existence in jeopardy.

Dagan made his observation Wednesday at a time of mounting speculation that Israel is planning to attack Iranian nuclear facilities in the next few months.

Dagan spoke at the launch of a political reform movement. Responding to an audience question, he said he does not think Israel faces an "existential threat." He did not explicitly mention Iran, but such language in Israel generally refers to Iran.

©2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.