Sudan officials, rebels seek security pact

NIGERIA

ABUJA -- Sudanese government officials and rebel leaders held face-to-face talks yesterday, as African Union mediators sought agreements that would halt Darfur's deadly conflict and pave the way toward a permanent peace. The pact would regulate an end to the fighting and the manner in which armed groups would lay down their weapons. A security pact must be reached before the two rebel groups at the talks would be ready to sign a humanitarian accord that would permit aid organizations unfettered access to refugees. (AP)

SWEDEN

Israeli whistle-blower is denied asylum
STOCKHOLM -- Sweden said yesterday that it had rejected an asylum application by Israeli nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu because he made it while still living in his native land. Vanunu, freed in April after serving 18 years in jail for disclosing Israeli nuclear secrets to a British newspaper, has said several times he wanted to leave the Jewish state because he felt threatened. ''Our law says the application must be outside his homeland," a spokesman for Sweden's Migration Board said. Vanunu can appeal or reapply. (Reuters)

BELGIUM

Islamic militants get prison terms
BRUSSELS -- A Belgian court handed down maximum prison sentences yesterday to four members of a group of Islamist militants convicted of links to organizations supporting Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network. The court gave the men five years for leading a ''conspiracy to commit serious crimes" -- a vague charge that predates antiterrorist legislation enacted after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. No one was convicted of involvement in a specific plot, and the court described those charged as ''amateurish" for leaving evidence that led to their arrest. (Reuters)

SCOTLAND

Centuries later, 'witches' pardoned
LONDON -- A Scottish township plans to mark Halloween by pardoning 81 people -- and their cats -- executed centuries ago for being witches. ''There will be no witches' hats, dress-ups, or that sort of thing -- it will be a fairly solemn occasion," Adele Conn, spokeswoman for the baronial court that granted the pardons, said yesterday. Tomorrow's ceremony in Prestonpans will declare pardons for 81 people executed in the 16th and 17th centuries. About 3,500 Scots, mainly women and children, and their cats were killed in witch hunts, many condemned on flimsy evidence such as owning a black cat. (AP)

HAITI

Death toll on rise as conference nears
PORT-AU-PRINCE -- The executions of four young men in a slum stronghold of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide brought to at least 79 the number killed in a month of violence in Haiti's capital. Citing the violence and charges of political persecution, Foreign Minister Rudy Insanally of Guyana said yesterday that leaders of the 15-member Caribbean Community should think twice about reestablishing ties with Haiti. Those ties were frozen shortly after Aristide's Feb. 29 ouster. Caribbean leaders will ''go back to the drawing board" when they meet in Trinidad next month, Insanally said. (AP)

GERMANY

Same-sex couples win more rights
BERLIN -- German legislators expanded the rights of same-sex couples yesterday, allowing registered domestic partners to adopt each other's children and making rules on splitting up and alimony similar to those for heterosexual marriages. Parliament's lower house passed the changes drafted by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's government over the objections of conservatives. (AP)