Iran wants to send man into space

Tehran, Iran

State TV says Iran's space agency aims to send an astronaut to space within 10 years.

Iran has stepped up its space ambitions in recent years, worrying world leaders already concerned about its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

On Sunday, Iran test-fired a rocket capable of carrying a satellite into orbit. The Iranian state news agency IRNA reported on Sunday that an Iranian carrier rocket, Safir, had successfully orbited the country's first domestically built satellite, called Omid (Hope).

The satellite will aid natural- disaster-management programs and improve telecommunications.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Dershowitz plans to call Karadzic

U.S. criminal-defense lawyer Alan Dershowitz said Thursday he plans to call former Bosnian Serb political leader and war-crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic as a witness in a related case at the U.N. Yugoslav Tribunal.

Dershowitz is helping defend Momcilo Krajisnik, who is appealing his 27-year-sentence for persecution, extermination and the murder of Muslims and Croats during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War. Karadzic and Krajisnik were once close allies as president and parliamentary speaker in the breakaway Bosnian Serb republic, and have now been reunited in the tribunal's detention center.

At Krajisnik's appeals hearing in The Hague on Thursday, Dershowitz said he had already met briefly with Karadzic. Karadzic was arrested last month after 13 years on the run and transferred to the tribunal July 30.

Asunción, Paraguay

Military leaders being replaced

The new president of Paraguay, ruled for 35 years by military dictator Gen. Alfredo Stroessner, is replacing most of the country's top military leaders.

Presidential spokesman Augusto Dos Santos says newly inaugurated President Fernando Lugo has signed 30 decrees naming new heads of the impoverished country's army, air force and navy.

On Tuesday, Lugo said the military will "never again ... be used to repress or harass" the people.

Seattle Times news services