Killing of a Palestinian Girl Sparks Retaliation at Israel
GAZA CITY -- The killing of a 10-year-old Palestinian girl in a Gaza schoolyard Monday prompted Islamic militants to fire mortar shells at Jewish settlements and endangered a relative calm between Israelis and Palestinians.
Although the circumstances of Norhan Deeb's death were unclear, the violence strained the recent atmosphere of goodwill between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the new Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas.
Despite the heightened tensions, top Israeli and Palestinian security officials met later Monday to work out the details of a handover of several West Bank towns to Palestinian control. Israeli officials said the security meeting ended with no accord on a handover.
The girl was killed in the courtyard of a U.N. school in the Rafah refugee camp near the Egyptian border. Palestinian witnesses said the gunfire came from a nearby Israeli military position along the border. The Israeli military said the girl was not hit by Israeli fire.
Europe
• VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II has come down with the flu, forcing him to cancel scheduled audiences for health reasons for the first time in more than a year, the Vatican said.
The already frail pontiff, 84, showed symptoms of influenza during his regular Sunday noon appearance at his apartment window overlooking St. Peter's Square, and doctors advised that he cut back on his activities, according to Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the chief Vatican spokesman.
Asked by Vatican Radio if it was a mild case, Navarro-Valls said, "Of course."
• THE HAGUE -- U.N. war crimes judges sentenced an ailing 71-year-old Yugoslav general to eight years in prison for failing to punish subordinates who carried out the deadly 1991 shelling of the Croatian city of Dubrovnik.
But Gen. Pavle Strugar was acquitted of the more serious allegations of murder and ordering the shelling during the 1991-95 war in Croatia. The Dec. 6, 1991, attack killed two civilians and destroyed much of medieval Dubrovnik's protected Old City, a UNESCO world heritage site since 1979.
• LONDON -- A Palestinian terror suspect detained without trial in Britain for three years was granted bail, but he won't be released until conditions are set, the government said.
Mahmoud Abu Rideh, who is accused of ties to associates of Osama bin Laden, is one of 11 foreigners being held indefinitely without charge or trial under controversial anti-terror legislation rushed through Parliament shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Asia
• KATMANDU, Nepal -- King Gyanendra dismissed Nepal's government on Tuesday and said he was taking control of the Himalayan kingdom -- the second time he has done so in three years.
