World in brief

Violence keeps most foreigners from Palm Sunday in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM - About 3,000 local Christians and foreigners with jobs in Israel gathered in Jerusalem for the traditional Palm Sunday march, which believers say retraces the path Jesus took when he entered the city before his arrest, trial and Crucifixion.

The procession down the Mount of Olives and through the narrow cobbled streets of the walled Old City was held under tight security. Marchers were flanked by armed troops and mounted police officers. Three years of violence frightened most foreign tourists away.

This year's Holy Week coincides with the start of the weeklong Jewish Passover holiday, beginning tonight, and Israeli security services fear a Palestinian attack on a public gathering. Police roadblocks have sprung up throughout Jerusalem, and police have been posted in front of main hotels in the city.

VATICAN CITY: Pope John Paul II celebrated Palm Sunday Mass in the company of thousands of young people who joyously waved fronds and olive branches and cheered encouragement as he began a busy schedule of Holy Week ceremonies.

The Vatican described the gathering of more than 40,000 faithful in front of the altar on the steps of St. Peter's Basilica as an "antidote" to the fears of terrorism and war around the globe.

Security has been heightened in the last few months at the Vatican over concerns that the heart of Roman Catholicism could be target of Islamic extremists. Italian police officers patrolled the crowd, and Vatican plainclothes security personnel kept a close eye on participants.

CAIRO - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, trying to revive last month's postponed Arab summit, said Sunday the leaders should meet in May and that he doesn't care where they gather.

Tunisia, the host of this year's March 29-30 meeting of the Cairo-based Arab League, called off the gathering 48 hours before it was to begin, citing disagreements among members on key agenda items such as a U.S. reform plan for the region and a 2-year-old Arab peace initiative for Israel.

Mubarak received Syrian President Bashar Assad and Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir in Cairo on Sunday for consultations on rescheduling the Arab summit.

SLOVENIA: Slovenes overwhelmingly voted Sunday against restoring the rights of thousands of ethnic Bosnians, Croats and Serbs who were stripped of their citizenship when Slovenia broke away from Yugoslavia. More than 18,000 people were officially erased from state records after Slovenia declared its independence in 1991. In a referendum Sunday, 95 percent of the voters denied restoring the ethnic groups' rights.

SLOVAKIA: A former authoritarian prime minister and his one-time ally will face each other in an April 17 runoff that decides who will be the Slovak leader as it joins the European Union, according to election results Sunday. Vladimir Meciar's first place finish in Saturday's presidential ballot comes only weeks before Slovakia joins the EU. The smooth-talking nationalist and his opponent and former right-hand man, Ivan Gasparovic, finished first and second to eliminate Foreign Minister Eduard Kukan.

SRI LANKA: President Chandrika Kumaratunga's alliance won the most seats in Sri Lankan parliamentary elections held Friday, but it does not have the simple majority needed to form a government, election officials confirmed Sunday. Kumaratunga's United People's Freedom Alliance won 105 seats in Parliament, with 45.6 percent of the vote. It would need 113 seats in the 225-member Parliament to form the government. The United National Front of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe won only 82 seats, with nearly 38 percent of the vote.

INDONESIA: Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, will vote today in parliamentary elections that surveys indicate will turn on the country's widespread dismay at the limping economy rather than on questions about Islam.

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