World
In its sternest warning to date against the use of Palestinian rockets, Israel's defense ministry said it might set up security zones in the West Bank and Gaza Strip if the practice continued. The Kassam-2, a new and longer-range version of the Palestinians' homemade rocket first fired over the weekend, is capable of reaching Israel's cities from Gaza or the West Bank. Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer did not identify Palestinian areas that would be taken over but said "we'd sit there until it becomes clear that there is no longer a danger." (Story, page 8; opinion, page 11.)
Day 1 of Slobodan Milosevic's trial for "the worst crimes known to humankind" ended in The Hague with the prosecution not yet finishing its opening presentation. The former hard-line president of Yugoslavia must be held personally responsible for such offenses as murder, torture, and deportation of non-Serbs in the 1991-95 Croatian conflict, the 1992-95 civil war in Bosnia, and in Kosovo (1998-99), chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte told the UN tribunal. (Story, page 6.)
Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is alive at an unidentified location in Karachi, Pakistan, the principal suspect in his kidnaping has told police, reports said. Ahmed Omar Saeed was in custody after being captured in Lahore, capital of neighboring Punjab province, on the eve of President Pervez Musharraf's meetings in Washington with Bush administration officials. But while calling the arrest of Saeed "a significant achievement in the case," police said "we have to wait" for more details on Pearl's whereabouts. (Story, page 1.)
A showdown appeared likely between Zimbabwe's government and the European Union after the former admitted a Swedish diplomat only as a tourist. Pierre Schori had expected to lead a team of EU monitors for the March 9-10 presidential election. The EU has threatened sanctions against President Robert Mugabe's government if it blocks deployment of the monitors. Sweden is among six EU members that Mugabe accuses of helping to fund his political opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai is expected to give Mugabe his stiffest challenge in the election.
Christian and Muslim leaders embraced each other after signing an accord to end three years of sectarian violence in Indonesia's Molucca islands. The fighting is blamed for about 10,000 deaths and for causing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes. The deal calls for joint security patrols, banning and disarming militias, the return of the refugees, and reconstruction of the province. Ominously, however, Laskar Jihad - the paramilitary group that interjected itself in the strife - declared that those negotiating for the Muslims were not representative of the will of the Moluccas' people.
All 118 people aboard a domestic flight in Iran were reported dead after it crashed while trying to land. Witnesses said the Russian-built plane hit a snow-covered mountain near the western city of Khorramabad.
