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World in brief
Compiled from Times wires Spanish judge bans Basque groupingMADRID -- A Spanish judge on Monday banned a Basque political party accused of collaborating with the armed separatist group ETA. Hours later, a special session of the Spanish Parliament demanded that the party, Batasuna, be outlawed. The judge, Baltasar Garzon, accused the party of involvement in ETA's "crimes against humanity," which he said included 836 murders since 1968. He ordered a three-year ban on the party, which means Batasuna must close its offices as well as more than 100 bars, or "people's taverns," which the judge said were used as fundraising and recruitment points by ETA. In Madrid, lawmakers broke their summer recess to debate the amendment, which calls on the government to ask the Supreme Court to outlaw Batasuna. The vote passed, 295-10, with 29 abstentions. The court has three months to respond to the request. Iranian Parliament grants women divorce rightsTEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's Parliament approved a bill giving women the right to sue for divorce, a similar right already guaranteed for men. The bill, approved by the 290-seat Parliament on Sunday, amends Iran's Civil Code and lets women seek a divorce in court, said lawmaker Elaheh Koolaee. In order to become law, the bill must be approved by the hard-line Guardian Council, which reviews all laws passed by parliament and oversees elections. No date has been set for its review. Milosevic trial reopens with account of massacreTHE HAGUE, Netherlands -- The war crimes trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic resumed Monday after a monthlong recess with the testimony of a man who said he saw Serbian troops gun down at least 39 ethnic Albanians. Sadik Xhemajli told the court that he watched with binoculars from a nearby hill as Serb soldiers separated 127 men from a group of unarmed civilians in a field near the village of Izbica on March 28, 1999. Some were shot from about 15 feet away, while the crippled and elderly were burned alive, he said. Milosevic, who is acting as his own defense attorney, denied his forces could have committed the crimes and dismissed the claims as "impossible." "There isn't a single officer in the Yugoslav police who could carry out such orders," he said. "This is complete nonsense." Seven Israeli Arabs arrested in bomb plotJERUSALEM -- Seven Israeli Arabs have been arrested as suspected accomplices in a deadly suicide bombing, police said Monday, heightening concern of a growing alliance between members of their community and Palestinian militants. The seven Israeli Arabs, all members of the same family, were accused of involvement in an Aug. 4 suicide bombing on a bus at the Meron junction in northern Israel. The blast killed nine passengers and pedestrians. Police said the suspects helped store explosives in a nursery school, dressed the assailant as a tourist and then scouted a target -- a bus filled with Israeli soldiers and civilians. Israeli Arabs, who number about 1-million of Israel's population of 6-million, have freedom of movement not afforded to residents of the West Bank, who have been barred from Israel during 23 months of fighting.
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
