JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli and Palestinian leaders will try to shift Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites)'s initial Middle East focus away from Iraq and toward their own conflict in talks in Israel and the West Bank on Sunday. Powell, on his first overseas trip since taking office, meets Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) in Jerusalem before seeing Palestinian President Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The meetings may yield the first real clue to U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s policy on the Arab-Israeli conflict and a nearly five-month-old Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation. At his first stop, Egypt, Powell urged Arabs on Saturday to help contain Iraq, but met an apparent rebuff from Cairo which said it felt no threat from Baghdad.
HONOLULU (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy's official inquiry into the fatal collision of the USS Greeneville (news - web sites) and a Japanese fishing trawler will closely scrutinize the actions of a fourth officer on board the submarine, who held senior rank over the vessel's captain, Navy sources said on Saturday. Capt. Bob Brandhuber, chief of staff for the Pacific Submarine Forces, was the host of civilian guests on board the sub when the accident occurred. He has not been named alongside three Greeneville officers as a subject of a court of inquiry, but will almost certainly be called as a witness, the sources told Reuters. The court of inquiry was convened for March 5 to determine whether disciplinary action should be taken against any or all of the officers named as subjects, and could ultimately lead to a court martial. Under Navy rules, the presiding officers at a court of inquiry can name additional subjects or ``parties'' at any time during the proceedings.
