World in brief

Belgium to alter law on war crimes

PARIS - Belgium, apparently bowing to American pressure, said on Sunday that it would change a law that has been used to charge U.S. officials with war crimes.

Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said the law would be amended to make it harder to abuse the statute, under which the first President George Bush, retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Colin Powell have been the target of lawsuits.

The law now allows virtually anyone to use Belgian courts to bring war crimes charges against virtually anyone else, regardless of where the supposed crimes were committed. Verhofstadt said Sunday that the law would be amended to require that either the defendant or the victim be a Belgian citizen. He said the amendment would be sent to Parliament once his Liberal Party and the Socialists form a new coalition government, after their victory in elections last month. Parliament reconvenes in October.

MANILA, Philippines - After a Muslim rebel group publicly rejected terrorism, the government said Sunday that it was ready to declare a permanent cease-fire and restart formal negotiations on ending a decades-old insurgency in the south.

The government was reacting to a statement issued by Moro Islamic Liberation Front chairman Salamat Hashim saying that terrorism "is anathema to the teachings of Islam" and that his group rejects and denies "any link with terrorist organizations."

The government has accused the rebels of ties with the regional militant Islamic network Jemaah Islamiyah.

TEHRAN, Iran - Student leaders held sit-ins Sunday to protest the detention of classmates after last week's fierce clashes between proclergy militants and antigovernment demonstrators.

Police Gen. Mahmoud Japalaqi was quoted as saying Sunday that 520 people, including 18 women, were arrested. "Only 10 of them are students and the rest of rioters are ruffians," Japalaqi told the government-run daily Iran.

But student leaders holding sit-ins in front of the Parliament and at Tehran University said most of the detainees were classmates.

CANBERRA, Australia - Prime Minister John Howard on Sunday appointed a former career military officer and war hero as the new Australian representative of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.

Michael Jeffery will take over as governor general of Australia in August, replacing Peter Hollingworth, who resigned last month amid two sex scandals that had undermined public faith in his ability to perform the duties of the post.

Jeffery, 65, served from 1993 to 2000 as the queen's representative for the state of Western Australia.

AGRA, India - A state-run company building a tourist complex near the Taj Mahal pulled back its cranes and earth-filling equipment Sunday after the federal government said the project violated laws protecting the 17th century monument.

Federal Tourism and Culture Minister Jagmohan, who visited the white-marble Taj Mahal on Sunday, said the new structure could divert the flow of Jamuna River waters during monsoon rains, flooding a sprawling garden in the area and damaging the monument.

The proposed tourism complex would be a 1.25-mile corridor with shopping malls, amusement parks and restaurants on the banks of the Jamuna River, which flows behind the Taj Mahal. The development would stand just 330 yards from the monument.

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