World in brief

China insists SARS be reported

BEIJING - Stung by the ruinous effects of an initial coverup of SARS, the Chinese government has issued stringent new rules requiring local officials to report disease epidemics to Beijing immediately, on pain of dismissal or criminal charges.

Potentially more important, in a country where news about disasters has often been treated as a state secret, the rules say the government must provide the public with quick information about epidemics, large-scale poisonings or other health emergencies.

"The release of information must be swift, accurate and comprehensive," say the regulations that were signed on Monday by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and described in front-page articles in major newspapers on Tuesday.

How consistently the regulations will be enforced is debatable, but the strong and well-publicized rules are the latest step in a campaign by top leaders to regain credibility in their fight against the disease. Officials minimized it and concealed numbers during the early months, abetting the spread of the dangerous virus to Beijing, other parts of China and to many foreign countries.

China reported 80 new SARS cases nationwide on Tuesday, taking the total to 5,086, including 262 deaths.

PARIS - A widespread public sector strike shut down much of France on Tuesday, as more than 1-million workers protesting plans to overhaul France's costly retirement system marched through France's major cities.

Airport authorities said about 80 percent of flights in France were canceled. The national railway SNCF reported that almost 60 percent of its employees stayed away from work, the highest participation rate for a railway strike in nearly a decade.

KINSHASA, Congo - Heavily armed ethnic groups renewed a battle for an eastern Congo city Tuesday as the United Nations tried to muster an international force to quell the fighting.

More than 10,000 people in the city of Bunia took refuge at the airport and a U.N. compound from violence that has resulted in at least 160 deaths in the past week, said Patricia Tome of the U.N.

"France has indicated that, in principle, it is prepared to participate in such a force, provided there is a clear mandate and other governments join in," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said of a peacekeeping force.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Carlos Menem, the scandal-ridden former president of Argentina, appeared ready Tuesday to suspend his re-election campaign and concede the race to his opponent less than three weeks after he won the first round of voting and five days before a runoff.

The move would assure Nestor Kirchner, the governor of the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz, is sworn in as president on May 25.

Most of the nation's television networks, its foremost political analysts and the Web sites of its two leading newspapers reported Tuesday night Menem would drop out.

VIENNA, Austria - Vienna's Art History Museum said Tuesday it would consider negotiating with whomever stole a 16th century, gold-plated sculpture by Florentine master Benvenuto Cellini, a significant Italian Renaissance work valued at $57.5-million.

A $81,200 reward is being offered for information leading to the object's recovery, said museum director Wilfried Seipel.

"We are open to negotiate with anyone," he said.

Thieves broke in before dawn Sunday and seized the 10-inch object, known as the "saliera" or saltcellar, from its case.

DEATH TOLL IN CHECHNYA RISES: The toll in Monday's truck bombing of a Chechen government compound rose to at least 54 dead and 300 wounded, rescue officials said Tuesday, including 16 women, seven children and 10 officers of the Federal Security Service.

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