World
Nine of the terrorists killed in last month's attacks in Mumbai were identified by their full names Tuesday by Indian police, who said their hometowns – all in Pakistan – also had been learned. Previously, only aliases or first names were believed to be known. The move appeared aimed at adding new weight to India's claim that all those involved were Pakistani. For their part, Pakistani security agencies arrested 20 more suspects in the case Tuesday, and President Asif Ali Zardari said the peace process with India must move forward to "foil the designs of the terrorists."
Police in Athens fought running battles with protesters Tuesday as the funeral of a teenage shooting victim turned violent. Residents of neighborhoods around the cemetery demanded that the police stop firing tear gas, although the mourners were setting fires and hurling rocks and sticks. Hundreds of teens also scuffled with police in front of parliament before the funeral. Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis was holding emergency meetings with leading politicians to discuss ways of bringing the violence to an end.
Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hopes of returning to power in Israel may have been set back in Likud Party internal elections, analysts said. Voters chose a slate of hawkish candidates to run in the Feb. 10 national election, rather than the moderates Netanyahu had sought to try to draw public support away from the ruling Kadima Party. Likud held a nine-point lead over Kadima in the most recent opinion poll, but the choice of hard-liners opens it up to claims that it's a party of right-wing extremists, the analysts said.
Warnings of retaliatory attacks were being sounded in Spain Tuesday following the capture of the suspected new leader of the Basque separatist organization ETA. Aitzol Iriondo and two companions were arrested in a town on the French side of the border, and authorities said all were carrying guns and false identity documents. If the suspicions are confirmed, Iriondo would be the second ETA leader captured in three weeks and the third this year.
Under tight security, police advisers, judges, and customs agents from the European Union took up posts in Kosovo Tuesday, replacing the UN mission that has overseen the province's affairs for more than a decade. In all, the EU operation, the biggest that the bloc has yet attempted, will number 1,900 people. But prospects for its effectiveness remain unclear, since the 120,000-strong Serb minority refuses to recognize Kosovo's independence or its civilian institutions.
Sony Corp., the electronics giant, said it will eliminate 8,000 jobs by March 30, 2010. Also involved in a range of cost-cutting moves: the closure of several plants, outsourcing certain functions, and delaying a production increase for liquid-crystal display TV sets. The measures are aimed at saving $1.1 billion a year, an executive said, since "We are all facing a recession together [and] it is impossible to predict how much longer the situation will last."
Eighty thousand chickens on local farms were ordered to be slaughtered by health officials in Hong Kong after a new flare-up of so-called "bird flu." The officials also suspended imports of live poultry for three weeks, which will limit the availability of chicken for traditional holiday dinners. In 1997, 1.5 million birds were culled after an avian flu outbreak. Another 1.25 million were slaughtered in 2001.
Fire crews in Cape Town, South Africa, struggled to contain at least nine blazes that were being driven by strong onshore summer winds. The fires, feeding on dry brush, were blamed for three deaths and had destroyed hundreds of houses. Guests at a popular resort were ordered to evacuate, reports said.
