Fujimori put back under house arrest

CHILE
SANTIAGO -- The former president of Peru, Alberto Fujimori, was put back under house arrest yesterday, a day after a Chilean prosecutor recommended his extradition to face charges of rights abuses and corruption. A judge ordered Fujimori's detention in a response to a request from Peru. (AP)

MIDEAST

JERUSALEM -- Israel has reportedly told Syrian leaders that it is willing to give up the Golan Heights as part of a peace deal that would require Syria to distance itself from Iran's regime. The Yediot Ahronot newspaper said yesterday that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sent messages through German and Turkish diplomats saying Israel was open to direct peace talks and to giving up the plateau it seized in 1967. Syria has not responded. (AP)

CHINA

BEIJING -- China is reporting fewer executions this year after reinstating a requirement that every death sentence must be approved by the country's highest court. The Supreme People's Court said lower courts were reporting a drop in executions, in line with a survey of Beijing courts that found a 10 percent drop in the last five months. Human rights groups estimate that China executes 10,000 to 15,000 inmates a year. (New York Times News Service)

IRELAND

DUBLIN-- Six days of negotiations to form Ireland's next coalition government collapsed yesterday, leaving Prime Minister Bertie Ahern with limited options for returning to power. Ahern's centrist Fianna Fail party had been seeking since Sunday to forge a government alliance with the left-wing Greens to sustain its 10-year run in power. (AP)