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World News Quick Take

■ Japan
News fabricator nabbed
Police arrested a former computer programmer yesterday for allegedly publishing a fabricated news article on a fake Yahoo Japan news Web site saying that China had invaded Okinawa. Tokyo Metropolitan Police department arrested Takahiro Yamamoto, 30, on suspicion of violating patent laws, a police spokesman said on condition of anonymity. He said Yamamoto allegedly accredited the fake article to Kyodo News Agency and published it on an Internet site that he had designed to look like Yahoo Japan Corp's news site.

■ Japan
Lawmaker arrested
Police yesterday arrested a high-profile lawmaker, alleging he illegally profited from allowing an employee to use his name as a lawyer. Shingo Nishimura, 57, a member of the lower house of parliament, was arrested for alleged violation of the Attorneys Law, a police spokesman in Osaka said. He is accused of allowing an employee of his law firm to use his name and seal as an attorney to broker settlements in traffic accidents and other cases from May 1998 to Feb. last year, Jiji Press said.

■ Myanmar
Suu Kyi may be freed earlier
The military junta has extended pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest by six months, an official said yesterday, raising hopes in her party that the Nobel peace laureate could be freed sooner than expected. A spokesman for her National League for Democracy also said the shorter-than-expected extension appeared to coincide with the military's timetable for completing talks on a new constitution, which are set to resume next week. The official did not explain why the latest extension was for only six months.

■ Spain
EU tries to revive Iran talks
The EU on Sunday wrote to Iran to test the waters for resuming direct talks on the republic's disputed nuclear program, EU foreign policy head Javier Solana said. "We offered the Iranians to have conversations ... to see if we have enough common basis to restart a negotiation," Solana told reporters covering a summit of EU and Mediterranean leaders in Barcelona. The letter was sent on the behalf of Solana as well as foreign ministers Jack Straw of the UK, Philippe Douste-Blazy of France and Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany, he said. Solana said the letter set no date for a resumption of the negotiations.

■ Zimbabwe
Mugabe's party wins poll
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's ruling party cemented its grip on power, winning an overwhelming majority in elections for a new Senate amid bitter, potentially irreconcilable, divisions in Zimbabwe's opposition. Partial results on Sunday showed that the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front would control at least 49 out of 66 seats in the Senate. Saturday's election was marked by a record low turnout blamed on voter apathy and the deep divisions in the opposition over boycott calls. Indepen-dent monitors predicted that an overall average turnout for the 31 contested seats across the country was between 15 and 20 percent, the lowest in any national poll since independence in 1980.

■ Germany
Merkel friendly with Turkey
German Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed on Sunday not to change the focus of negotiations on Turkish membership in the EU, saying that existing agreements with Ankara would be respected. Merkel, who met Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recip Erdogan on the sidelines of a Euro-Mediterranean summit in Barcelona, said that she was convinced relations with Turkey would develop in a "good direction." The new German chancellor said she had accepted an invitation to visit Istanbul, and that her talks with Erdogan had also centered on the integration of Turkish migrants living in Germany.

■ Germany
Diet boosts breast cancer
The wrong diet and a lack of exercise can increase a woman's risk of breast cancer, according to Germany's professional association for gynecol-ogists. Eating less animal fat and doing without the empty carbohydrates in refined sugar, white bread and alcohol can not only reduce a women's waistline, but also lower her risk of breast cancer, the Munich-based association says. Women can lower their risk by exercising regularly, giving birth to their first child before age 35 and by nursing their babies.

■ Senegal
`Africa's Pinochet' can stay
Chad's former president Hissene Habre will be allowed to remain in Senegal until African Union leaders decide his fate at a summit in January, Senegal's foreign minister said on Sunday. "Taking into consideration the arguments of Mr. Habre and his lawyers, our country ... has decided to permit Mr. Habre to remain in Senegal in expectation of a decision by the African Union," Cheikh Tidiane Gadio said. Known as "Africa's Pinochet," Habre is wanted by Belgium to face trial for alleged mass murder and torture during his 1982 to 1990 rule under a law that allows Belgian courts to try cases of human-rights abuses in other countries.

■ Lebanon
UN set to question Syrians
The UN team investigating the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri was to question five top Syrian officials in Vienna yesterday, a Lebanese government source said on Sunday. "The head of the UN team is due to interrogate the five officials in Vienna this coming week ... if no obstacles appear the Syrian officials will leave Damascus on Monday night and will be interrogated on Tuesday," the source who requested anonymity told reporters. The source added that Riad Daoudi, legal advisor to the Syrian foreign ministry, would be accompanying the five officials "not as an official but as a legal representative."

■ Germany
Thousands wait for power
Some 65,000 people in rural parts of north central Germany spent their third night without electrical power, following the heaviest snowfalls in a century, authorities said yesterday. Record falls over the weekend in parts of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony caused blackouts and traffic chaos. Early yesterday electricity was restored to around 15,000 people, and emergency services were running portable generators to assist those still without power. A local government spokeswoman said repairs were being carried out at high speed. Noone was cut off and supplies were getting through, she said.

■ Canada
Dozens trapped in gondolas
A ski lift at Canada's famed Lake Louise resort malfunctioned, trapping about 65 people in gondolas for hours as darkness fell and temperatures dropped below freezing. When the resort could not get the lift working again, ski patrollers rescued the stranded passengers by traversing the cable using rescue equipment in a feat one witness likened to something out of a James Bond movie. Resort officials said the most severe injuries were a few cases of frostbite. Jon-Henry Vanderwerf, 10, was alone in one gondola for three hours with his nine-year-old brother, Luke. "It was scary, it was cold and the wind was blowing the car from side to side," he said. "The worst part was just before they rescued us. It kept swaying and rocking."

■ United States
Protesters leave Bush ranch
Dozens of war protesters packed up their tents and left their campsite in a field near President George W. Bush's ranch on Sunday, vowing to return during Easter for a third vigil if US troops are still in Iraq. The weeklong protest, which coincided with Bush's Thanksgiving holiday visit to his ranch, drew about 200 people. It was a continuation of the August demonstration led by California mother Cindy Sheehan, whose son Casey died in Iraq last year during combat. Protesters credit the summer vigil, which they say attracted some 12,000 people over the 26 days, with shifting US sentiment about the war.

■ United States
Dogs maul woman to death
A pack of six dogs mauled a 76-year-old woman to death as she worked in her yard, authorities said. Lillian Loraine Stiles was riding on a lawn mower in her front yard on Saturday when she was confronted by the dogs, described as pit bull-rottweiler mixed breeds, said Milam County Sheriff Charlie West. Investigators think Stiles was attacked when she got off the mower and headed into her house. Stiles had severe bites over her entire body, and a man who tried to help her was bitten on one leg, authorities said. The dogs were found at the home of Stiles' neighbor, Jose Hernandez.

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