World Digest
River ferry carrying 250 capsizes in eastern Bangladesh

ODD ANDERSEN / AP Royal nuptials Crown Prince Felipe of Spain and his wife, Princess Letizia Ortiz, a former TV anchorwoman, leave the Almudena Cathedral in Madrid yesterday after their wedding. Tens of thousands of well-wishers lined the streets for the newlyweds' motorcade procession.

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Many of the passengers were asleep when the accident occurred and were believed to be trapped inside the double-decker ferry, said Mohammad Dulal Miah, a police officer at the scene. About 50 people swam to shore, and some were rescued from inside the vessel. Several bodies had also been found.

A ferry capsized in the same area during a storm last July, killing more than 500 people.

Collision with tanker sinks ship carrying 4,000 cars

SINGAPORE — A ship carrying 4,000 cars sank after colliding with an oil tanker just south of Singapore, authorities said today.

The collision between the tanker MT Kaminesan, carrying nearly 279,950 tons of crude oil, and car carrier MV Hyundai occurred late last night, the Maritime and Ports Authority of Singapore said.

All 20 crew members of the Hyundai were rescued before it sank, the authority said. There was no immediate leak of oil from the Panama-registered Kaminesan, a spokeswoman said.

Economist sworn in as India's new leader

NEW DELHI — Manmohan Singh, the Oxford-educated economist responsible for India's sweeping economic-liberalization policies, was sworn in as prime minister yesterday, placing the Congress party back in control of the nation after eight years.

Singh, 71, India's first prime minister from the country's influential Sikh minority, was sworn in by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, whose family comes from India's large Muslim minority.

Singh's move to the top job ended a week of political turmoil in which Congress leader Sonia Gandhi — a member of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty — declined to become prime minister.
 
The shift in leadership came after Congress ousted Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Hindu-nationalist government in tumultuous elections held in stages during April and May.

German airline caterer shot dead in Saudi Arabia

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — A German who worked as a caterer for Saudi Arabia's national airline was shot and killed yesterday, an Interior Ministry official said.

Authorities are investigating whether the attack was linked to terrorism or more-conventional crime, the official said on condition of anonymity.

The man, who worked for Saudi Arabian Airlines, was shot on Prince Abdullah Highway, a popular shopping thoroughfare in eastern Riyadh. Witnesses said the man, who was not identified, was shot after leaving a bank machine.

Election raises hopes in war-torn Sierra Leone

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — Voters in Sierra Leone went to the polls yesterday to elect local government officials in the former British colony for the first time in three decades.

The election is seen as a milestone in the West African country's move toward peace after a 10-year civil war because it will move decision-making away from the capital and back into the hands of local officials.

Voting was peaceful in the capital, Freetown, although there was a heavy military presence on the streets and most businesses closed for the election, the second since the war ended.

Pope reiterates stand against gay marriages

VATICAN CITY — Pope John Paul II yesterday repeated the Roman Catholic Church's opposition to same-sex marriages after Massachusetts became the first U.S. state to allow them.

"Family life is sanctified in the joining of man and woman in the sacramental institution of holy matrimony," he said in an address to visiting American bishops.

They were believed to be the pope's first public comments on marriage since Massachusetts on Monday joined Belgium, the Netherlands and three Canadian provinces in legalizing gay marriage.

Health leaders to world: Eat better, get exercise

GENEVA — As expected, the world's health leaders yesterday formally adopted a global strategy to combat bad diet and exercise habits in an attempt to fight diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cancer.

The voluntary plan offers a blueprint for countries trying to make it easier for people to eat more healthful food and exercise more. Diseases linked to poor diet cause more than half of all deaths worldwide.

The World Health Organization's governing body adopted the plan after tentatively agreeing on it Friday. The agreement sets out recommendations such as the reduction of sugar, fat and salt in processed food; the control of food marketing to children and of health claims on packaging; and more comprehensive nutrition labeling and health education.

Rift prompts Gorbachev to resign as party leader

MOSCOW — Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev resigned yesterday as leader of his Social Democratic Party in a dispute, according to Russian news reports.

The Social Democratic Party's chairman, Konstantin Titov, had insisted on a political deal with the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, while Gorbachev opposed the move, the ITAR-Tass news agency said.

Gorbachev stepped down at a closed-door party session in Moscow, Russia's NTV television said.

Gorbachev and his party enjoy little political support in Russia.

But Gorbachev is still widely respected in the West for his perestroika reforms of the late 1980s and his moves to improve East-West relations.

Interfax said Gorbachev plans to remain in the party.