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President faces indictment on sex charge

By TIMES WIRES
Published January 24, 2007

Israel's attorney general said Tuesday that prosecutors have enough evidence to indict President Moshe Katsav on charges he raped and sexually harassed female subordinates while serving in his current post and earlier as tourism minister. But Attorney General Menachem Mazuz said a decision on whether to issue a first-ever criminal indictment against an Israeli president would depend on the outcome of a hearing during which Katsav has the right to rebut the allegations. Katsav, whose post is largely ceremonial, has denied any wrongdoing.

TURKEY

50,000 rally after journalist's death

More than 50,000 mourners, including senior Turkish and Armenian officials in a rare display of unity, poured into Istanbul Tuesday to bid farewell to Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian journalist who was gunned down outside his offices Friday, a death that many Turks hoped would be a catalyst for change. Dink was best known as an advocate for the rights of the country's Armenian minority. A teenage nationalist reportedly has confessed to killing Dink.

FRANCE

Doctors give man a face transplant

French doctors announced Tuesday that they had performed the world's third partial face transplant, on a 29-year-old man whose face was disfigured by severe tumors, giving him a new nose, mouth and chin and replacing part of his cheeks. In 2005, Frenchwoman Isabelle Dinoire received the world's first partial face transplant after her dog mauled her. Since then, a Chinese farmer received a partial face transplant after he was disfigured in a bear attack.

AUSTRALIA

Diver pokes shark in eye to escape

A diver escaped a 10-foot shark's attack by poking the animal in its eye after it had already chomped on the man's head once and was preparing for another bite, witnesses and officials said Tuesday. Eric Nerhus, 41, was flown to a hospital with serious injuries to his head, body and left arm after the attack off Cape Howe, about 250 miles south of Sydney. The shark grabbed Nerhus by the head, crushing his face mask and breaking his nose, said Dennis Luobikis, a fellow diver who witnessed the attack. The shark, believed to be a great white, came back for a second bite, clenching its jaws around Nerhus' torso and leaving deep lacerations in his side, said Luobikis. Nerhus wrestled free of the shark's jaws, and later told rescue workers he had poked the shark in the eye.

Elsewhere

Iran: Nicholas Burns, U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, said a second U.S. aircraft carrier strike group now steaming toward the Middle East is Washington's way of warning Iran to back down in its attempts to dominate the region.

China: The Chinese government will not loosen its one-child policy, despite a top family planning official's acknowledgment Tuesday that it was partly to blame for a worsening problem of too many boy babies and not enough girls. The government plans to address the problem with education campaigns, punishments for sex-selective abortions and rewards for parents who have girls.

Somalia: Ethiopian troops whose military strength was crucial to helping Somalia's government drive out a radical Islamic militia began withdrawing Tuesday, raising fears of a power vacuum unless peacekeepers arrive soon in this chaotic nation.

[Last modified January 24, 2007, 01:00:56]