World
A bomb exploded in a busy pizza restaurant in central Jerusalem, killing at least 15 people and wounding almost 90. Police said a suicide bomber tied to the militant Islamic Jihad group detonated his explosives inside the restaurant, which was filled with people on lunch breaks. The restaurant bombing was the second-deadliest attack in 10 months of Mideast violence, surpassed only by a June 1 attack on a Tel Aviv disco that killed 21. In recent Middle East fighting, more than 550 Palestinians and 130 Israelis have been killed. (Story, page 9.)
Suspension of Northern Ireland's power-sharing government seemed likely this weekend, as the Monitor went to press, after the Irish Republican Army said it would disarm but still failed to offer a timetable as demanded by the province's Protestant leaders, including Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble. He resigned last month as leader of Northern Ireland's Catholic-Protestant administration, formed by the 1998 peace accord. Trimble's post must be filled this weekend or Britain can suspend powers of the coalition.
Three high-ranking Bosnian Muslim military officers pleaded innocent to 19 counts of war-crimes violations. The most-senior Bosnian Muslims yet to face the UN war-crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia, they are accused of killing at least 200 Serb and Croat civilians between 1993 and 1994. The indictment also accuses them of overseeing the use of hostages as human shields. The tribunal has 43 suspects in custody, including ex-Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. Above, the Bosnia Muslims stand before the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
Newly elected Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri named a 30-member cabinet dominated by nonpartisan experts who she said will try to tackle the country's crises, including widespread economic woes. The new lineup includes retired generals and politicians, some of whom had been fired or quit in protest of former leader Abdurrahman Wahid's troubled administration. Sukarnoputri was elected July 23 after Wahid was impeached.
At least 40 white families in northwestern Zimbabwe fled rising violence on their farms, after clashes with pro-government militants occupying their properties escalated. Earlier this week, about 20 farmers were arrested for allegedly assaulting the militants, who have staged government-supported attacks on white-owned farms since February 2000.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reelection as president of Japan's ruling party was assured when no one registered to challenge him in a party vote, news reports said. The Liberal Democratic Party will automatically choose the enormously popular Koizumi to serve a two-year term as party president today. Koizumi was elected in April and has promised to eliminate pork-barrel politics and help Japan's faltering economy.
