WORLD IN BRIEF

turkey

Court to Consider Case Against Ruling Party

Turkey's top court said Monday it would decide within 10 days whether to take up a request by state prosecutors to close the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AK Party, in a case that has upset investors and stoked fears of instability.

A state prosecutor on Friday urged the Constitutional Court to close the party and ban 71 party officials, including the prime minister and president, from politics for five years for allegedly trying to build an Islamic state in secular Turkey.

The party, which has roots in political Islam, strongly denies the accusations. The lawsuit has raised the prospect of prolonged political turmoil, including delays in vital economic and other reforms sought by the European Union and Turkey's business community.

This first stage is technical and will decide only whether the dossier has been presented according to relevant rules.

If the court agrees to examine the case, it will have to determine whether the accusations themselves are sufficiently serious and plausible to be investigated.

If it does, the AK Party will have to provide arguments in its own defense. A final verdict could take many months.

india

Talks on Nuclear Deal Fail to Reach Agreement

India's government and its communist allies failed Monday to break a deadlock over a controversial nuclear deal with the United States, but said they would meet again next month to discuss the pact.

The communists oppose the deal as harmful to India's security and have threatened to bring the government down if it tried to push it through.

But they allowed the government to negotiate India-specific safeguards with the International Atomic Energy Agency, a crucial step in putting the deal into effect, on condition that the outcome of the talks with the agency be reported to them.

The deal would give India access to American nuclear fuel and technology.

Albania

Defense Minister Quits After Depot Disaster

Albania's defense minister, Fatmir Mediu, resigned Monday after a series of explosions at a weapons depot near the capital killed at least 16 people and injured nearly 300 others.

Mediu stepped down after the main opposition Socialist Party demanded that he and conservative Prime Minister Sali Berisha resign over the blasts.

The prime minister said Mediu's resignation was "an act of political responsibility" but rejected the opposition call for his own resignation.

The blasts began Saturday and continued for 14 hours, raining artillery shells down on nearby villages and destroying more than 300 homes. Berisha has said the explosions were an accident that occurred during work to destroy excess ammunition stockpiled since Albania's communist era.

* * *

Bomb, Gunfire Kill 2 in Thailand

A bomb and a drive-by shooting in Thailand's insurgency-plagued south killed two people and wounded six, mostly children playing near their homes, police said. The bomb -- hidden in a parked motorcycle -- exploded in front of a house under construction in Yala province.

Oil Spilled in Loire River

About 3,000 barrels of fuel oil leaked in and along France's Loire River after a pipe ruptured while a tanker was being loaded at a Total refinery, the company said. Teams used floating dams and Total mobilized a 200-person cleanup crew to cope with the 400-ton spill at the Donges refinery in western France, which began late Sunday, the company said.

From News Services