China tells Sarkozy to avoid Dalai Lama

PARIS - President Nicolas Sarkozy, who said today he will attend the opening ceremonies of Beijing's Olympic Games, was warned by China not to meet with the Dalai Lama in France next month. China's ambassador to France, Kong Quan, told reporters yesterday there would be "serious consequences" for Chinese-French relations if Sarkozy meets the Dalai Lama, asserting that it "would be contrary to the principle of noninterference in internal affairs." Sarkozy has been vague on whether he would meet personally with the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader-in-exile of Tibet who has advocated resistance to China's sovereignty. (New York Times News Service)

PARIS - Liquid containing traces of unenriched uranium leaked yesterday at a nuclear site in southern France, and some of the solution ran into two rivers, France's nuclear safety agency said. Authorities banned the consumption of well water in three towns and the watering of crops from the two rivers. Swimming, water sports, and fishing were also banned. A spokeswoman for the nuclear safety agency, Evangelia Petit, said about 7,925 gallons of solution containing uranium spilled at a factory at the Tricastin nuclear site, about 25 miles from the historic city of Avignon. Another nuclear safety official, Charles-Antoine Louet, said the liquid contained about 794 pounds of unenriched natural uranium, which he said is toxic but only slightly radioactive. (AP)

GENEVA - Swiss nationalists are forcing a general referendum on whether to ban the construction of Muslim minarets - a proposal that, if approved, could clash with Switzerland's constitutionally protected right to freedom of religion. The Interior Ministry said it received a petition yesterday for a referendum on the issue with more than the required 100,000 signatures. It was submitted by members of the nationalist Swiss People's Party and the fringe Federal Democratic Union, which argue the minaret symbolizes a bid for political and religious power rather than just a religious sign. Opponents of a construction ban said it would violate religious freedom. (AP)

BEIRUT - A deadly days-long standoff between inmates and security forces threatened to escalate at a Syrian military prison known for holding Islamist and political dissidents, said human-rights observers. According to rights groups in touch with prisoners and other sources in Syria, security forces have slain at least 25 inmates at the Saydnaya jail near Damascus, the capital. The violence erupted Saturday after detainees rioted to protest a sweep by guards, the groups said. The police responded by firing on the prisoners. "The last ultimatum made by the Syrian security forces at the prison to the protesting prisoners demanded them to end their disobedience before Tuesday dawn," said a statement posted yesterday on the website of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Authorities warned that they would carry an assault "at any human cost" if prisoners did not to surrender, the statement said. (Los Angeles Times)