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World in brief

Italy issues broader warrants in rendition case

By wire services
Published December 24, 2005

ROME - An Italian judge has issued European arrest warrants for 22 purported CIA operatives wanted for the alleged kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric, a prosecutor said Friday.

Prosecutor Armando Spataro said the warrants allowed for the arrest of the suspects in any of the 25 European Union member countries. Italy already had issued warrants for their arrest within its own borders.

Prosecutors have identified one suspect as Robert Seldon Lady, a former CIA station chief in Milan who has since returned to the United States. The whereabouts of the others are unknown.

Italian Justice Minister Roberto Castelli wants more court documentation before deciding whether to forward an extradition request to Washington, Spataro said.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a top U.S. ally, suggested earlier this week that the government may not push the request, saying, "I don't think there is any basis in the case."

Prosecutors allege that Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, a cleric believed to belong to an Islamic terror group, was abducted from Milan in February 2003 as part of the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program, in which terrorism suspects are transferred to third countries without court approval.

UNITED NATIONS - U.N. members agreed Friday night on a two-year budget that seriously restricts spending and applies pressure for management reform - a top priority for the United States and the European Union.

The General Assembly's budget committee was expected to approve the $3.8-billion plan, which includes a spending cap next year of $950-million.

The United States, Japan, Europe and other wealthy nations who pay about 85 percent of the United Nation's budget back the spending cap, which means the United Nations will likely run out of money in six months.

Their aim is to put pressure on all U.N. members to agree on management reforms by June, so that when the General Assembly is asked to approve another $950-million to cover U.N. operations for the rest of 2006, there will be sufficient progress for a yes vote.

Some reforms have been approved. On Tuesday, a new U.N. Peacebuilding Commission was established to help countries emerging from conflict manage the difficult transition to stability and development, and a new directive protects whistleblowers.

NEW DELHI - Taking a stand against corruption, India's Parliament ended its winter session Friday with a vote to expel 11 lawmakers caught taking bribes in a TV station's sting operation.

The 11 legislators, belonging to parties across the political spectrum, took up the disguised journalists' offers of bribes ranging from $325 to $2,400 in exchange for promises to raise more than 60 questions in Parliament.

At least 25 of the questions were put to various ministers and government officials, who were forced to address issues they otherwise would not have, according to the news Web site Cobrapost, which worked with Aaj Tak television on the sting.

JERUSALEM - Israel will enforce a new off-limits zone in the Gaza Strip with artillery, helicopter and gunboat fire, its latest response to Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli towns, defense officials said Friday.

The promised barrage would mark some of Israel's toughest military action in Gaza since it withdrew from the coastal strip in September. Palestinian officials on Friday promised to send more of their security forces to the Gaza border to prevent rocket attacks.

Israel's deputy defense minister, Zeev Boim, ruled out a major ground offensive in Gaza.

SOFIA, Bulgaria - U.S. and European officials agreed Thursday with Libya on setting up a fund to offer financial assistance to the families of AIDS-infected children in Libya, Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry said Friday.

The move is part of international efforts to secure the release of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death by a Libyan court for allegedly infecting some 400 children with the AIDS virus in an experiment.

Bulgarian and other European officials say the charges are a coverup of poor hygiene practices that they blame for the infections.

BEIJING - China has dismissed two provincial deputy governors, prosecuted 96 officials, and demoted or fired 126 others blamed for six coal mine accidents that have killed a total of 528 people in the past 13 months, the government announced Friday.

All six disasters were blamed on managers who failed to follow safety rules, sometimes with official collusion, the country's top industrial and mine safety officials said at a news conference.

[Last modified December 24, 2005, 01:10:16]