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World in brief

Creator of Web worm sentenced

By wire services
Published July 9, 2005

VERDEN, Germany - The teen creator of the "Sasser" Internet worm, which caused millions of dollars in damage worldwide, won't be going to prison despite his conviction Friday on charges including computer sabotage.

Sven Jaschan, 19, who was caught with the help of reward money from Microsoft Corp., instead got a 21-month suspended sentence and was ordered to do community service, court spokeswoman Katharina Kruetzfeld said.

Jaschan could have received up to five years in prison. But, because he was a minor when arrested, prosecutors had sought only a two-year suspended sentence.

ORANJESTAD, Aruba - The mother of a missing Alabama teenager apologized Friday for any offense her remarks about the justice system here may have caused.

Beth Holloway Twitty said she had been extremely distraught about the scarcity of clues to 18-year-old Natalee Holloway's fate when she contended Tuesday that two brothers who have been tied to the case were guilty and should not have been freed from jail. At the time, she also urged other countries not to give them refuge.

She said she realizes the legal system here "abides by the presumption of innocence, and I want to assure everyone that I do respect the Aruban legal system."

JERUSALEM - An Israeli security guard shot dead a Palestinian teenager Friday during a protest against Israel's West Bank separation barrier, police said.

The guard was taken into custody and his weapon confiscated, pending an investigation, said police spokesman Shlomi Sagi.

Palestinian hospital staff said the dead boy, Mahyoub Assi, 16, was from the same clan as two 17-year-olds shot dead in May while stoning soldiers at the same spot, near the West Bank village of Beit Laqia.

GUANTANAMO DETAINEES: The Defense Department has determined that four more prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, no longer pose much of a threat, and it plans to release them. No information on those four was available. The State Department plans to send them to their home countries, said Rear Adm. James M. McGarrah, who oversees the reviews of prisoners and whether they should remain at Guantanamo, on Friday.

ETHIOPIA ELECTIONS: Election results for more than half of the seats in Ethiopia's parliament show the ruling party and the opposition in a virtual tie, but results for the remaining seats from the May vote have been delayed to check claims of fraud, Kemal Bedri, chairman of the National Electoral Board, said Friday.

COLOMBIA RESIGNATION: Colombia's defense minister resigned Friday amid criticism over his handling of the country's counterinsurgency war and his alleged relationship with a jailed female drug trafficker. Jorge Alberto Uribe will be replaced by Camilo Ospina, a lawyer who currently serves as President Alvaro Uribe's judicial counsel, officials said.

BRAZIL AIDS DRUG: Brazil and U.S. drugmaker Abbott Laboratories reached an agreement late Friday to reduce the price of AIDS drug Kaletra over the next six years, prompting the Latin nation to end plans to break the company's patent, the Health Ministry said Friday.

[Last modified July 9, 2005, 01:23:02]