World Scene


June 27, 2008

JAPAN

G-8 urges Pakistan, Afghanistan to talk

KYOTO | Rich nations on Thursday urged Afghanistan's neighbors to promote stability in the war-ruined nation, singling out the need for dialogue between the sparring governments in Kabul and Islamabad.

The call by Group of Eight foreign ministers came amid a sharpening of rhetoric between two countries whose relations have long been strained by Afghan accusations that Taliban insurgents operate from sanctuaries on the Pakistani side of their border.

The opening talks in Japan among the foreign ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States were overshadowed by news of a breakthrough in efforts to end North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

SOMALIA

Aid group finds high malnutrition

NAIROBI, Kenya | Somalia needs urgent medical aid to save thousands of malnourished children and wounded adults who are trapped in one of the most violent, lawless countries in the world, an international aid group said Thursday.

Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, treated more than 2,500 children suffering from acute malnutrition in the towns around Mogadishu, the country's capital, in May alone. More than 2,000 people have been treated for traumatic injuries since the beginning of the year.

Meanwhile a local human rights group, Elman Peace and Human Rights Organization, said the conflict in Somalia has killed 2,136 civilians so far this year, bringing the death toll since an Islamist-led insurgency began in early 2007 to 8,636.

VATICAN CITY

Pope doesn't wear Prada, paper says

VATICAN CITY | The devil may wear Prada - but the pope does not.

After years of speculation that Pope Benedict wears shoes by Prada, the Vatican's official newspaper denied such talk as "frivolous."

Esquire magazine last year named the 81-year-old pontiff "accessoriser of the year" for his red leather loafers that fashion watchers had said were probably made by the Italian fashion house.

While the Vatican had never confirmed or denied whether the shoes were by Prada, continued chatter about the pope's dress sense led the Vatican daily Osservatore Romano to print a condemnation of media stories it said trivialized the head of the church.

The article said, "The pope, in summary, does not wear Prada, but Christ," but did not say who did make the shoes.

ROMANIA

Church groups fight abortion for girl, 11

BUCHAREST | Twenty church groups Thursday urged a government committee not to allow an 11-year-old girl who was raped by her uncle go to Britain for an abortion.

The anti-abortion Christian Orthodox groups also threatened to press charges if the girl were allowed to have a termination in Romania on exceptional grounds.

The girl's pregnancy only became known this month when her parents took her to a doctor because she appeared ill. She told doctors she had been raped by her 19-year-old uncle, who has since then disappeared.

She is now 20 weeks pregnant. The legal limit for abortions in Romania is 14 weeks. In Britain an abortion is legal up to 24 weeks in special cases.

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World Scene


July 1, 2008

CHINA

Dalai Lama aides to resume talks

BEIJING | Representatives of the Dalai Lama said Monday they will sit down for talks with Chinese officials, as international pressure built for the sides to ease tensions after anti-government riots in Tibet.

The prime minister of the self-proclaimed Tibetan government in exile confirmed that envoys Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen, who arrived in Beijing on Monday evening, would hold the two days of talks starting Tuesday.

The meetings follow informal talks held in early May in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, which ended with an offer from Beijing for future discussions.

China said an invitation has been extended to the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual and political leader, but gave no details.

Pressure has been growing on both sides to improve relations in the wake of the riots and protests that wracked the Tibetan capital of Lhasa and other areas of China in March.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who ended two days of talks in China on Monday, said she was encouraged by the talks and urged China to sincerely engage the Dalai Lama.

SOUTH KOREA

Police target beef protesters

SEOUL | South Korean police raided the offices of civic groups that have led weeks of protests against a government plan to resume U.S. beef imports. At least 19 activists were arrested Monday.

Authorities searched the Seoul offices of two civic groups and confiscated computers, documents and materials used during rallies. One senior civic group official was arrested on charges of instigating violent protests, police said.

Police also arrested 18 labor activists who blocked U.S. meat from leaving a storehouse.

The beef dispute forced conservative President Lee Myung-bak to replace top advisers, and his entire Cabinet offered to resign after earlier rallies that drew up to 80,000 people. Police began enforcing a ban on rallies Sunday and arrested about 130 protesters, but no serious clashes or injuries were reported.

IRAQ

5 judges escape bombings at home

BAGHDAD | Five Iraqi appeals court judges escaped assassination attempts Monday when bombs exploded outside their homes in eastern Baghdad, an apparent attempt to intimidate the court, police and a judicial official said.

The five bombs in different neighborhoods failed to kill or wound their targets. The wife of Ali al-Alaq, one of the judges, was wounded.

All the targets are judges in one of Baghdad's two appeals courts. The attacks came just days after gunmen killed the court's chief judge, Kamel al-Shewaili, as he drove to his home in eastern Baghdad.

AFGHANISTAN

28 militants killed by U.S.-led forces

KABUL | U.S.-led forces backed by warplanes battled militants in southwestern Afghanistan, killing 28 rebels including several Taliban commanders, an Afghan official said Monday.

Other violence claimed the lives of two Afghan soldiers, two militants and a government worker, while three troops from the U.S.-led coalition died when their vehicle rolled into a riverbed.

The accident occurred Sunday when the troops were patrolling in Arghandab, a valley in Kandahar province that foreign and government forces recently retook from Taliban militants, the coalition said.


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July 2, 2008

EUROPEAN UNION

Poland puts hold on signing treaty

PARIS | Polish President Lech Kaczynski compounded the problems facing the European Union on the first day of France's presidency of the bloc on Tuesday, saying he will not sign the union's reform treaty for now.

Mr. Kaczynski said it would be "pointless" to sign the treaty after Irish voters rejected it in a referendum on June 12. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said ratification of the Lisbon Treaty was in the country's interest.

The treaty, intended to overhaul the bloc's institutions, needs the backing of all 27 member states to come into force.

Mr. Kaczynski's comments highlighted the problems facing President Nicolas Sarkozy at the start of France's six-month tenure of the European Union's rotating presidency. Mr. Sarkozy said he still thought Mr. Kaczynski ultimately would honor a pledge that Poland would ratify the treaty.

MONGOLIA

Emergency imposed after vote protests

ULAN BATOR | The president declared a four-day state of emergency in Mongolia's capital early Wednesday after protesters stormed the headquarters of the ruling party, claiming fraud in weekend parliamentary elections.

President Nambaryn Enkhbayar's decree allowed police to use force in dealing with the thousands of rock-throwing protesters who thronged the headquarters of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party and set it on fire.

The two main political parties focused their campaigns on how to tap recently discovered mineral deposits - including copper, gold and coal - but disagreed over whether the government or private sector should hold a majority stake.

GERMANY

Bank-note paper to Zimbabwe halted

FRANKFURT | A German company that has been supplying paper used by Zimbabwe's central bank to print bank notes said Tuesday that it is stopping shipments immediately at the request of Germany's government.

The move could create a problem for President Robert Mugabe's regime, which has been churning out currency amid skyrocketing inflation that forces Zimbabweans to shop with bundles of cash. A pint of milk can cost 3 billion Zimbabwe dollars, or about 30 U.S. cents.

Giesecke & Devrient GmbH of Munich said it would stop delivering bank note paper to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe "with immediate effect."

CHINA

Girl's death probe to be reopened

WENG'AN | An investigation into the death of a teenage girl will be reopened, state media reported Tuesday, as officials bowed to public anger over a reported police cover-up in this southwestern China town.

Police initially determined that the high school student drowned, angering locals who suspect she was raped and killed, perhaps by children of local officials. In response, about 30,000 people rampaged through Weng'an on Saturday, torching cars and police headquarters in the town in hilly Guizhou province.

INDIA

Kashmir revokes land transfer

SRINAGAR | Authorities reversed a plan to transfer land to a Hindu shrine in Muslim-majority Indian-held Kashmir on Tuesday as Muslim and Hindu protesters held massive rallies across the region assailing the state government for its handling of the politically sensitive issue.

The state government's decision to revoke the order was an apparent attempt to defuse the tension that fueled nine days of protests and left five people dead and hundreds more wounded.


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World Scene


July 3, 2008

BRITAIN

Hezbollah faces sanctions

LONDON | British Prime Minister Gordon Brown took harsh action Wednesday against the Lebanese-based group Hezbollah, punishing it for supporting terrorist activities in Iraq and the Palestinian territories.

The action against Hezbollah's military wing will, if approved by Parliament, make it a crime to join or support the military wing of the radical group, which fought a bloody conflict with Israel two years ago.

Hezbollah trainers are offering Shi'ite militia in Iraq specialist help in using roadside bombs, said Tony McNulty, Britain's minister in charge of fighting terrorism.

Britain lists 59 groups as banned terrorist organizations. Hezbollah's external security organization has been listed since 2001. Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, speaking by video link to reporters in Beirut, said the decision came as no surprise.

AFGHANISTAN

U.S. helicopter shot down

KABUL | A helicopter belonging to U.S.-led coalition troops was shot down by small-arms fire south of the Afghan capital on Wednesday, but there were no serious injuries to those on board, the U.S. military said.

The pilots landed the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter safely and evacuated all personnel before it caught fire in the Kharwar district of Logar province, where Taliban militants are known to be active.

It was the second coalition helicopter to crash in a week. The other incident, in Kunar province in the northeast, is under investigation but indications are that the helicopter crashed due to mechanical failure.

CHINA

Party boss attacks Dalai Lama

BEIJING | China's Communist Party boss in Tibet delivered a fresh attack on the Dalai Lama on Wednesday, even as envoys of the region's exiled leader met with Chinese officials for more talks toward easing tensions following anti-government riots.

The official Tibet Daily quoted hard-liner Zhang Qingli as saying that supporters of the Dalai Lama were behind the violence that began with deadly rioting in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa on March 14 and quickly spread to sections of Tibet in western China.

The remarks, which echo earlier Chinese accusations about the riots, indicate no letup in Beijing's relentless campaign to vilify the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, despite talks this week that followed widespread calls for dialogue from overseas.

CONGO

Court orders warlord freed

THE HAGUE | Judges at the International Criminal Court on Wednesday ordered the release of the first suspect the tribunal took into custody, saying he cannot get a fair trial because prosecutors are withholding evidence in his case.

Prosecutors immediately launched an appeal and urged the court not to free former Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga. He will remain in custody for at least five days while the court decides what to do next.

His landmark trial was to have been the first at the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal, but it was suspended before it began last month after the prosecution refused to release documents it received from the United Nations that could help clear Mr. Lubanga.


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World Scene


July 4, 2008

IRAQ

Ban targets misuse of clerics

BAGHDAD | The Iraqi government on Thursday ordered that campaign materials in upcoming provincial elections can only feature pictures of candidates, in an apparent attempt to keep followers of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr from using his image to court voters.

The decision would affect other Shi'ite parties that often use pictures of popular clerics in political campaigns. The government this week also banned candidates from campaigning in mosques or other places of worship.

Shi'ite politicians flooded the country with posters of the country's main Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and others during elections in 2005, capitalizing on their prestige to win power. Pictures of Mr. al-Sadr, who comes from one of Iraq's most esteemed Shi'ite families, line the streets of places such as Baghdad's Sadr City.

BRITAIN

Terror suspect freed on bail

LONDON | A terrorism suspect purported to have deep ties to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda has been set free on bail, British officials said Thursday in the second such case in less than three weeks after courts ruled the men could not be kept in jail indefinitely.

The 45-year-old Algerian - identified only as "U" - may not leave his home or have visitors, except for a lawyer, doctor or social worker. He is denied access to the Internet and cannot use a cell phone or a computer.

In the earlier case, radical preacher Abu Qatada was set free with similar bail conditions June 17, although he is allowed to leave home for two hours each day.

BULGARIA

Army depot blasts shut down airport

SOFIA | A series of powerful explosions erupted Thursday at two army ammunition depots near Sofia, shattering windows in hundreds of buildings, spewing smoke and debris into the sky and forcing Bulgaria's main airport to shut down.

Emergency Situations Minister Emel Etem said there were no immediate reports of injuries from the early morning blasts at the depots near Chelopechene, just outside Sofia, where obsolete ammunition had been stored. The blasts - heard across the capital - blew out windows and damaged doors in most buildings at Chelopechene. Traffic was jammed as people fled the danger zone.

The cause of the blasts was not immediately known.

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

Court overturns convictions

THE HAGUE | A U.N. appeals court on Thursday overturned the war crimes conviction of Naser Oric, a Bosnian Muslim considered a war hero by many in his country for fighting Serbs in the embattled Srebrenica enclave during Bosnia's 1992-95 war.

Mr. Oric, 41, was convicted two years ago by the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal of failing to prevent the killing and torture of Serb captives in Srebrenica. But judges gave him a lenient two-year sentence and ordered his immediate release because of time spent in custody.

But appeals judges went even further, overturning both convictions because the original trial failed to establish that Mr. Oric had control over forces responsible for the crimes.

SWEDEN

Cleared suspect to get payment

STOCKHOLM | Sweden will pay 3 million kronor ($502,000) in compensation to an exonerated Egyptian terrorism suspect who was handed over to CIA agents and deported in 2001, the government said Thursday.

Chancellor of Justice Goran Lambertz said the Swedish state reached a settlement with Muhammed Alzery's lawyers on compensating him for circumstances of his deportation. He also said Sweden believes Mr. Alzery's claim that he was tortured in Egypt.

Mr. Alzery and fellow Egyptian Ahmed Agiza were handed over to U.S. agents at Bromma Airport in Stockholm six years ago, taken to Egypt and imprisoned on terrorism charges. Mr. Alzery was released in 2003.

CONGO

Ex-vice president moved to tribunal

THE HAGUE | Former Congolese Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba was extradited from Belgium on Thursday to stand trial before an international war crimes tribunal charging him with responsibility for rape and murder, the court said.

Mr. Bemba was transferred to a jail near The Hague, seat of the International Criminal Court, where he faces charges stemming from his militia's intervention in the Central African Republic in 2002-03.


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World Scene


July 5, 2008

IRAN

EU envoy gets reply on incentives

TEHRAN | Iran responded Friday to an incentives package offered by six world powers aimed at resolving a standoff over its disputed nuclear ambitions.

There was no word on the content of Iran's reply, submitted to EU foreign-policy chief Javier Solana. It was in response to the offer of talks on economic and other benefits if Tehran halts nuclear work the West suspects is aimed at making bombs.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, told Mr. Solana by phone that Tehran had prepared its response by concentrating on common ground between the two sides and with a "constructive and creative outlook."

The offer of trade and other incentives proposed by the United States, China, Russia, Germany, Britain and France was presented to Iran by Mr. Solana last month.

AFGHANISTAN

Civilian toll claimed in U.S. air strikes

KABUL | The U.S. military said air strikes by its attack helicopters hit two vehicles carrying insurgents Friday in eastern Afghanistan. Afghan officials said civilians were traveling in the vehicles, and their casualty estimates ranged from six wounded to 22 killed.

1st Lt. Nathan Perry, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, said the air strikes in Nuristan province hit militants who had earlier attacked a U.S. military base with mortars.

BELARUS

50 hurt in blast near president

MINSK | A homemade bomb tore through a crowd that included the country's authoritarian president early Friday, wounding more than 50 people at an all-night holiday concert, health officials said.

The blast was unusual in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic, where President Alexander Lukashenko harshly suppresses dissent and public violence is rare. Officials blamed unspecified "hooligans" for the bombing.

Mr. Lukashenko was not wounded in the blast, and it was unclear if the attack was an assassination attempt. There were no reported claims of responsibility.

GERMANY

Ex-President Bush opens embassy

BERLIN | Former President George H.W. Bush inaugurated the new U.S. Embassy in Germany at its pre-World War II site on Friday - a return that he said symbolized the fulfillment of "a great and noble dream" of European freedom and unity.

Mr. Bush, who was president when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and supported German reunification less than a year later, spoke alongside Chancellor Angela Merkel at the site in front of the Brandenburg Gate - the symbol of Germany's postwar division and then of its unification.

ISRAEL

Jerusalem attacker had Jewish mistress

JERUSALEM | The Palestinian who went on a deadly rampage on a Jerusalem street this week spent years in a romantic relationship with a Jewish Israeli woman, relatives said - a rarity in a city where such ties between Arabs and Jews are nearly nonexistent.

In an interview with an Israeli paper Friday, the woman, identified only as "S," said the attacker, Hussam Dwayat, fathered her child, now seven years old.

Mr. Dwayat, 30, crushed three people to death and wounded dozens on one of Jerusalem's busiest thoroughfares Wednesday with the massive earth-moving vehicle he used in his job at a nearby construction site. Mr. Dwayat, who was fatally shot by police, was married to a Palestinian woman, Jamileh, 20, with whom he had two young sons, 3 and 5.


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July 6, 2008

HUNGARY

Protesters attack gay marchers

BUDAPEST | Dozens of protesters clashed with police escorting a march Saturday by gays and lesbians through the center of Budapest. Two officers were injured and at least 45 demonstrators detained, police said.

The protesters pelted the marchers with eggs, bottles and rocks, and threw cobblestones and Molotov cocktails at police, setting fire to a police van. Police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the protesters at several points along a boulevard in downtown Budapest.

Police tried to protect the march by setting up high metal barriers along the way and at various intersections. Most of the clashes, which lasted at least three hours, took place at Heroes' Square, a large open space at the edge of City Park, where a monument to historic Hungarian leaders is flanked by two art museums.

INDIA

Protesters: Police set fire to shrine

SRINAGAR | Thousands of protesters clashed Saturday with police in Indian Kashmir's main city over claims that government forces set fire to a local Muslim shrine, officials said.

Residents claim the popular Srinagar shrine, Jenab Sahib, was set on fire by police and the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force. The protesters attacked a nearby police station, pelting it with stones. Police fired tear-gas shells and swung batons to disperse the protesters, officials said.

Prabhakar Tripathi, a CRPF spokesman, denied authorities were involved in damaging the shrine, saying "we brought the fire engines to extinguish the fire." He said the shrine's holy relics were safe.

RUSSIA

Duma increases funds to major parties

MOSCOW | Russia's lower house of parliament on Saturday passed a measure quadrupling government funding for major political parties. This will bring tens of millions of dollars into the coffers of the dominant United Russia Party, but leave liberal opposition parties with nothing.

The bill was passed by a 444-0 vote in the State Duma.

Under the proposed law, a party will get 20 rubles, or 87 cents, for each vote it received in last year's national elections for parliament and in this year's presidential election. Liberal opposition parties, which did not make it into parliament and did not field presidential candidates, will get nothing.

SRI LANKA

35 Tamil rebels killed in fighting

COLOMBO | Government forces attacked Tamil Tiger rebels along Sri Lanka's northern front lines, triggering a series of gunbattles that killed 35 rebels and one soldier, the military said Saturday.

The latest fighting broke out in the Jaffna, Vavuniya, Welioya and Mannar regions on Friday, a Defense Ministry official said on condition of anonymity because of government regulations.

Fighting has escalated on this Indian Ocean island in recent months. The government has pledged to crush the insurgents by the end of the year.

THAILAND

Orangutan numbers declining sharply

BANGKOK | Orangutan numbers have declined sharply on the only two islands where they still live in the wild, and they could become the first great ape species to go extinct, a new study says.

The declines in Indonesia and Malaysia since 2004 are mostly because of illegal logging and the expansion of palm oil plantations, researchers say.

The survey found the orangutan population on Indonesia's Sumatra island dropped almost 14 percent since 2004. It also concluded that the populations on Borneo island, which is shared by Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, have fallen by 10 percent.


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July 7, 2008

SOMALIA

Gunmen kill top U.N. official

MOGADISHU | Gunmen on Sunday killed the head of the U.N. Development Program in the Somali capital, the latest fatality in a string of attacks on aid workers in the lawless country, a U.N. official said.

Osman Ali Ahmed was shot as he left a mosque in southern Mogadishu's Bulohube district and later died in a hospital.

"The gunmen shot Ahmed as he was leaving evening prayers in the mosque in Bulohube. He was taken to hospital where he died because of his wounds," a U.N. official said on the condition of anonymity.

Mr. Ahmed's wife, Nasteho Abukar Yusuf, confirmed Mr. Ahmed's death.

COLOMBIA

Popularity soars with hostage rescue

BOGOTA | Colombian President Alvaro Uribe could easily win a third term in office as the popularity of the U.S.-backed leader tops 90 percent after the dramatic rescue of Ingrid Betancourt, a poll said Sunday.

Seventy-nine percent of those questioned in the Ipsos-Napoleon Franco poll, commissioned by the El Espectador daily newspaper and released in Sunday's edition, said they would vote for the conservative leader, up from 69 percent in the previous poll taken days before the rescue.

The Andean country was captivated by Wednesday's rescue of French-Colombian politician Mrs. Betancourt, three American defense contractors and 11 Colombian soldiers and police officers in a daring operation carried out by state intelligence agents.

Mr. Uribe, elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2006 after the constitution was changed to allow him a second consecutive term, is leaving open the possibility of another change in the law that would allow him to try for a third term.

WEST BANK

Palestinians protest Israeli curfew

NILIN | Shots sounded from a Palestinian town on Sunday as local people marched in defiance of a round-the-clock curfew imposed by Israeli troops who have sealed off Nilin in the occupied West Bank.

One resident said up to 50 people were hurt by tear gas and rubber bullets. The Israeli army said a soldier was wounded and declined to comment on any casualties among civilians on a third day of clashes and a clampdown that has kept journalists out.

Troops again stopped reporters trying to enter the town of 5,000, west of Tel Aviv, which has been a focus for protests against the walls and fences Israel is building through the West Bank in what it says is a defensive measure.

A Reuters correspondent on a hill overlooking Nilin saw at least a dozen people walking and shouting through the village. He also heard several shots. Local people said by telephone they had been prevented from leaving the town since Friday.

MEXICO

Tropical depression hits Pacific coast

MEXICO CITY | A tropical depression scattered rains across Mexico's Pacific coast Sunday, and the U.S. National Hurricane Center said it was likely to reach tropical storm force.

Tropical Depression Five-E had maximum sustained winds near 35 mph with higher gusts Sunday morning. It was centered about 125 miles southwest of Zihuatanejo.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for the coast between Zihuatanejo and Acapulco.

The center of the depression was expected to closely parallel or move over the coast Sunday or Monday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

SYRIA

Prison riot said to be controlled

Bloomberg News Demonstrators on Sunday protest the rising fuel prices at a rally at the Kelana Jaya Stadium outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim addressed the 20,000 people, who gathered despite government orders to stay away.

DAMASCUS | Syria's official news agency says a prison riot near Damascus is over.

Human rights activists have said at least nine inmates were killed in the riot. But the SANA report Sunday did not mention casualties.

SANA says the rioting at Saidnaya prison broke out Saturday during a routine inspection, and officers have since restored calm there.

But a human rights activist says the situation is still volatile.

Beirut-based Syrian activist Mohammed Abdullah says he's in contact with prisoners' relatives standing near the compound. He says inmates can still be seen standing on the prison building's roof, signaling a continuing standoff with guards and military police.

MALAYSIA

Thousands defy police orders

KUALA LUMPUR | Thousands of people, defying police orders to shun a rally featuring former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, gathered at a soccer stadium outside Kuala Lumpur. A police helicopter hovered above the stadium.

The March 8 general election handed a resurgent opposition led by Mr. Anwar unprecedented gains.

Mr. Anwar, mired in a sodomy allegation that rocked the nation, told a 20,000-strong crowd at a rally protesting fuel price increases that he was willing to debate the issue with the prime minister or his deputy.

Mr. Anwar told the crowd that he would press ahead until his opposition alliance ousts the National Front coalition that has ruled the country since independence from Britain in 1957.


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July 8, 2008

ISRAEL

Prisoner swap deal signed

JERUSALEM | Israel has signed an agreement to swap prisoners with the Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas, according to a statement released Monday, as Israeli forces began digging up the bodies of Lebanese fighters to be exchanged in the deal.

The statement said the agreement was signed "in the presence of a U.N. representative." Israel approved the swap on June 29. Israel will hand over Samir Kantar, serving multiple life terms for a 1979 attack in Israel's north, as well as four Hezbollah prisoners and dozens of bodies of fighters. In return, Israel is to receive two soldiers captured by Hezbollah in a 2006 cross-border raid.

Israeli military officials said the exchange is likely to take place between July 13 and 16.


EQUATORIAL GUINEA

Mercenary sentenced 37 years

MALABO | British mercenary Simon Mann was jailed on Monday for 34 years by a court in Equatorial Guinea for a failed 2004 coup plot which he said included the son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Mann, 56, an Eton-educated former army special forces officer, was sentenced to a prison term of 34 years, four months and three days for conspiring to topple President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo in the small, oil-producing West African state.

Another defendant, Lebanese businessman Mohamed Salaam, received a jail sentence of 18 years, while four Equatorial Guinean nationals were given terms of six years each. Another was jailed for one year, and one other was acquitted.

PAKISTAN

Suicide attack wounds dozens

KARACHI | A string of small explosions wounded at least 37 people Monday in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, rattling the country a day after a deadly suicide attack in the capital, officials said

Five men were detained in connection with the blasts, a police official said.

The six blasts came within about an hour of each other, striking residential and commercial spots in the teeming port city, where political and militant-related violence is common.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, just as there has not been for the Sunday blast in Islamabad, which left at least 18 people dead, most of them police officers.

CHINA

Quake-shifted panda gives birth to twins

BEIJING | A panda who was relocated after China's deadly earthquake damaged her home gave birth to twin cubs on Sunday, a state news agency said.

Guo Guo is the first panda to give birth since the magnitude-7.9 quake struck Sichuan province on May 12, killing nearly 70,000 people and leaving 5 million homeless, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Twelve-year-old Guo Guo was moved to the Bifengxia panda center after the quake caused heavy damages at the Wolong Nature Reserve, China's main panda breeding center. Most of its 63 pandas had to be moved after the quake because of the threat of landslides and other hazards.

AUSTRIA

Ruling coalition collapses

VIENNA | Austria's governing coalition collapsed Monday, and a snap election looked set for September after conservatives declared that they could no longer work with the Social Democrats of Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer.

Accused of poor leadership and unpopular within his own ranks, Mr. Gusenbauer said he would not seek re-election as chancellor and recommended acting party Chairman Werner Faymann for the job, a shuffle expected to be approved.


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July 9, 2008

FRANCE

Uranium leak pollutes rivers

PARIS | Liquid containing traces of unenriched uranium leaked Tuesday at a nuclear site in southern France, and some of the solution ran into two rivers, France's nuclear safety agency said.

Authorities banned the consumption of well water in three nearby towns and the watering of crops from the two rivers. Swimming and fishing were also banned.

A spokeswoman for the nuclear safety agency said about 7,925 gallons of solution containing uranium spilled at a factory at the Tricastin nuclear site, about 25 miles from the historic city of Avignon. Another agency official said the liquid contained about 794 pounds of unenriched natural uranium, which he said is toxic but only slightly radioactive.

The liquid spilled from a reservoir that overflowed. It leaked both into the ground and into the Gaffiere and Lauzon rivers, the nuclear safety agency said.

AFGHANISTAN

Bomb found on bus transporting Indians

HERAT | A bomb was found on a bus transporting 12 Indian road workers in Afghanistan Tuesday, an official said, a day after a suicide attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul killed 41 people.

The workers, including engineers, had noticed a "suspicious package" on the bus as they were traveling to work in the southwestern province of Nimroz, provincial Gov. Ghulam Dastagir Azad told Agence France-Presse. Police discovered it was a remote-controlled bomb, he said.

The Taliban denied involvement in the embassy attack, and the Afghan government has hinted that Pakistan's intelligence service was involved.

MEXICO

Police chief ousted over nightclub raid

MEXICO CITY | Mexico City's police chief was forced out of office Tuesday after a botched nightclub raid that resulted in the deaths of 12 people.

Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said the resignation of Police Chief Joel Ortega was the first step in a plan to "reconstruct" the police force. Chief Ortega had held the post since 2004, when he replaced Mr. Ebrard.

The leftist mayor made the announcement shortly after Mexico City's Human Rights Commission presented a report claiming rampant misconduct by officials in the June 20 raid on the News Divine nightclub. Officers looking for underage drinkers blocked the club's lone exit, creating a stampede in which nine patrons and three police officers were asphyxiated or crushed to death.

GEORGIA

Separatist republic rejects U.S. plan

SUKHUMI | The breakaway Georgian republic of Abkhazia has rejected a U.S. proposal to deploy an international police force there, its leader said Tuesday.

The regional government, which is not internationally recognized, instead pledged to keep Russian peacekeepers on the ground, despite Georgia's accusations that they are fomenting tensions.

The U.S. State Department said Monday that Abkhazia "urgently" needs an international police presence in areas where recent bombings killed four people and wounded five. It also called on Abkhazia to resume peace talks with Georgia.

"We are not going to listen to any recommendations from the State Department, which always has a unilaterally pro-Georgian position," Abkhazia leader Sergei Bagapsh told journalists.

BRITAIN

Church split on female bishops

LONDON | The Church of England's move to accept female bishops further roiled an already troubled Anglican Communion on Tuesday, infuriating conservatives and complicating efforts to promote unity with the Roman Catholic Church.

The Church of England's ruling body Monday night voted to back women becoming bishops without giving traditionalist supporters of male-only bishops the concessions they had sought.

The Right Rev. Tom Wright, the bishop of Durham and conservative leader, said the General Synod's decision was muddled, just like one reached at a meeting of bishops in May.

Monday's decision also caused consternation at the Vatican.

It's "a further obstacle for the reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the Church of England," said Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Pontifical Council for the Promoting Christian Unity.

The Episcopal Church, the Anglican body in the U.S., is led by a woman, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.

SWITZERLAND

Nationalist force vote on minaret ban

GENEVA | Swiss nationalists are forcing a popular vote on whether to ban the construction of Muslim minarets - a proposal that, if approved, could clash with Switzerland's constitutionally protected right to freedom of religion.

The Interior Ministry said it received a petition Tuesday for a referendum on the issue with more than the required 100,000 signatures. It was submitted by members of the nationalist Swiss People's Party and the fringe Federal Democratic Union, which say they are acting to fight the spread of political Islam.

Opponents of a construction ban said it would violate religious freedom, and Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey has warned it would lead to a security risk for Switzerland by sparking Muslim anger.

NEW ZEALAND

Island mulls tobacco ban

WELLINGTON | Health officials want to make the tiny South Pacific island-nation of Niue the first country in the world to be fully smoke-free by banning tobacco.

A bill proposing to ban smoking and the sale of tobacco in all public areas and private homes has been drafted and presented to lawmakers, Dr. Sitaleki Finau, Niue's top public health official, said Tuesday.

The government has not yet signed onto the plan, and Dr. Finau conceded that it could face stiff opposition from tobacco companies and other commercial interests.

Niue, an island measuring just 100 square miles about 1,500 miles northeast of New Zealand, has about 250 smokers among its 1,300 population.


http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...cene-54445553/

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