World briefs

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 8, 2001

Greek church okays papal visit

ATHENS, Greece -- In a decision that could help mend centuries of friction between the two branches of Christianity, the 12-member governing body of the Greek Orthodox Church on Wednesday approved a possible visit by Pope John Paul II.

But the Holy Synod said opposition among some of its followers was "justified" and insisted that any papal trip to Greece must be nothing more than a pilgrimage to biblical sites.

And Greece's conservative clerical union predicted massive protests would greet John Paul, describing him as an "arch-heretic" and the "two-horned grotesque monster of Rome."

The visit could come in early May as part of the pope's planned trip to Syria and Malta. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the pope welcomed the synod's decision.

Last year the Greek church rebuffed the pope, demanding an apology for what it considers a long history of Vatican-sponsored aggression and arrogance.

U.N. approves sanctions on Liberia

UNITED NATIONS -- The U.N. Security Council warned Liberia on Wednesday that a diamond embargo and travel restrictions on senior officials will go into force in two months unless the government ends all support for rebels in Sierra Leone.

The council unanimously adopted a resolution that authorizes the sanctions -- but delays their implementation -- in a final attempt to get Liberia to stop the military and financial support that has allowed Sierra Leone's rebels to wage a decade-long war.

The United States and Britain proposed the measures after a U.N.-appointed panel issued a report that named Liberia as the rebels' key supporter, accusing it of helping them with guns-for-diamonds transactions in violation of U.N. embargoes.

Police arrest gunman on Alberta campus

EDMONTON, Alberta -- Police overpowered a man with a shotgun at the University of Alberta campus on Wednesday after getting a tip that he might attack people.

Two plainclothes police tackled the man outside the university's engineering building around midday. They confiscated a shotgun and a knife. No one was injured.

"We have information that he was coming here to take care of some people," Staff Sgt. Dick Shantz said.

The suspect, whose name was not released, was a former student barred from campus in November for violent behavior, a school official said. No further details were disclosed.

Elsewhere . . .

BRITISH TAX CUTS: Just two months ahead of an expected national election, the British government on Wednesday announced tax cuts of $5.9-billion and higher spending on the nation's financially troubled hospitals and schools.

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