British officials propose new anti-terrorism powers

British officials proposed sweeping new powers yesterday to control and monitor suspected terrorists without charge or trial, including house arrests, electronic tagging and curfews.

The measures were designed to address legal challenges to a post-Sept. 11, 2001, law under which the government has kept 11 foreign nationals imprisoned without charges for up to three years for allegedly posing a threat to national security. Home Secretary Charles Clarke, the Cabinet minister in charge of internal security, told the House of Commons that the 11 detainees, all of them Arab Muslims, would either be deported to their home countries or subjected to the new measures once a new bill passes Parliament.

The Law Lords, a panel of judges that acts as Britain's highest court of appeals, ruled the detention law violated the European Convention on Human Rights and was discriminatory because it applied only to foreign nationals, not to British citizens, and because it was not proportional to the potential security threat posed by the men.

Members of the two main opposition political parties cautiously welcomed the proposals. But David Davis, Conservative Party spokesman for internal security affairs, said he was concerned that the new measures would apply to British citizens and foreigners.

"Millions of British subjects have sacrificed their lives in defense of the nation's liberties, and it would be a sad paradox if we were to sacrifice the nation's liberty in defense of our own lives today," he told the Commons.

Rome

"Italian Unabomber" may have struck again

A mysterious bomber who has injured 20 people in a decade may have planted a small device that exploded yesterday in Italy's northern city of Treviso, police said.

There were no injuries from the explosion of a plastic candy container which went off as a group of middle-school students walked by, raising fears that the "Italian Unabomber" had struck again, police said.

Whoever is behind a dozen similar explosions in northeastern Italy since at least 1994 has been likened in the Italian media to the U.S. Unabomber who sent dozens of bombs through the U.S. mail for nearly 20 years.

Other blasts believed linked to the same man were a 2003 explosion of a booby-trapped pen that injured a child's hand and eye during a family picnic in the Treviso area; an exploding soap-bubble jar that injured a 5-year-old boy in 2002; and a jar of a popular brand of hazelnut sandwich spread that went off when a woman opened it, though she escaped injury.

Moscow

Russia may seek arrest of Ukraine PM

Ukraine's acting Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko faces criminal charges in Russia, but it is up to a court to decide whether to press forward with an arrest warrant, Russia's chief prosecutor said yesterday.

A Russian military court issued an arrest warrant for Tymoshenko last September while she was involved in helping President Viktor Yushchenko prepare for an election battle against Moscow-backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich.

Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov said Russian courts would decide whether to arrest her if she visits, referring to charges of bribery involving Russian military officials. Tymoshenko has denied charges of bribing Russian military officials when she headed the Ukrainian electric power system. She says the charges were politically motivated by enemies.

Beijing

Court spares life of Tibetan monk

A Chinese court yesterday spared the life of a Tibetan monk convicted in a series of fatal bombings, commuting his death sentence to life in prison, the government said.

Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche, 54, was convicted in December 2002 and given a death sentence with a two-year reprieve, which expired yesterday. The monk and an aide, Lobsang Dhondup, 28, were convicted in 2003 of seeking independence for Tibet. They were charged in connection with a series of bombings in 2001-02 that killed one person in Sichuan, which abuts Tibet and has a large ethnic Tibetan population.

The monk's conviction prompted protests by activists who said he was targeted because of his status as a community leader.