World in brief

Russia demands fast action for space station

MOSCOW -- Russia's space chief warned on Monday that time was running out for the United States to help pay for extra Russian spacecraft to run the international space station during the halt in U.S. shuttle flights.

"The problem has to be resolved within a month," Russian Aerospace Agency director Yuri Koptev said during a seminar with Italian government officials and aerospace executives in Moscow.

Koptev said Russia was ready to build extra spacecraft but needs financial support from the United States and other partners in the 16-nation space station project. New ships take at least 14 months to build and they won't be ready in time if an agreement isn't reached soon, he said.

RUSSIAN MISSILE PROGRAM: Almost $95-million spent by the United States on a plant to help dismantle former Soviet missiles has been wasted after local Russian officials blocked the plant, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said Monday.

But Andy Fisher, a spokesman for Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., the co-founder of the U.S.-funded program to dismantle Soviet nuclear weapons, said $80-million can be salvaged if the plant is built elsewhere.

Britain, Ireland try to revive Ulster coalition

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- The prime ministers of Britain and Ireland pressed Northern Ireland's rival politicians Monday to revive their Catholic-Protestant administration, a breakthrough likely to happen only if the Irish Republican Army renounces violence and disarms.

Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern presented a 28-page document to each party's top politicians in negotiations that stretched past nightfall at Hillsborough Castle outside Belfast. Aides to the two prime ministers said their bosses would continue talks today.

Their two key goals were to persuade IRA commanders to surrender the bulk of their stockpiled weapons, a process begun in October 2001 but halted in April; and to persuade Protestants from the Ulster Unionist Party to resume power-sharing with Catholics from the IRA-linked Sinn Fein party.

In arrests . . .

RWANDAN MURDERS: Three Rwandan rebels have been arrested and charged with the 1999 murders of two American tourists in Uganda during a trip to see rare mountain gorillas, U.S. officials said Monday.

Rob Haubner and his wife, Susan Miller, were hacked and bludgeoned to death by Rwandan Hutu rebels along with four British and two New Zealand tourists.

Those charged with murder, conspiracy and other counts were identified as Rwandan nationals Leonidas Bimenyiamana, 34; Francois Karake, 38; and Gregoire Nyaminami, 32. The three were arrested Saturday with the help of the Rwandan government and flown to Puerto Rico for initial court appearances, with trials to be held in Washington. The charges carry a possible death penalty.

S. KOREAN SUBWAY FIRE: Prosecutors reportedly sought an arrest warrant Monday for a train conductor who left his passengers trapped behind locked doors during a subway fire that killed 198.

The Yonhap news agency said authorities intend to charge the conductor with negligent manslaughter, which carries a maximum of five years in prison. Telephone calls to the prosecutors' office went unanswered late Monday.

Also . . .

ABORTION FOR 9-YEAR-OLD: The parents and doctors of a 9-year-old girl who received an abortion two weeks ago will not face charges, Nicaragua's attorney general said Monday. Maria del Carmen Solorzano said the abortion didn't break any laws because it was carried out to save the girl's life. Nicaraguan law allows abortions when the mother's life is in danger or when the fetus has severe deformities.

KYOTO TREATY: Russia has delayed ratification of the international Kyoto Protocol on climate change, the Toronto Globe and Mail reports, and two of its top scientists have begun to question the science underpinning it, developments that environmentalists say could kill the deal.

EU SPEAKS OF SANCTIONS: Pascal Lamy, the European Union's top trade negotiator, said Monday that the United States must bring its laws into compliance with global trade rules soon to avoid sanctions of up to $4-billion against American exports.

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