JERUSALEM
Politician convicted of sexual assault
Former Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai was convicted Wednesday of sexually assaulting and harassing two women, a verdict hailed by activists as a turning point for the treatment of Israeli women.
Mordechai, 56, emerged from the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court after hearing the verdict to tell reporters that he is innocent. "I will take all legal action to prove my innocence," said the highly decorated former general, who in 1999 ran for prime minister.
He cut his remarks short and sped away in a car when women demonstrators outside the courthouse began chanting "you cannot be raped into silence" and other slogans. He could receive a maximum of 14 years in prison when he is sentenced next month.
Argentina
Workers protest economic measures
Argentina's third economy minister in almost as many months sought political support Wednesday for his efforts to end the nation's deep recession, unbowed by a public workers' strike on his first full day on the job.
Domingo Cavallo huddled with political leaders even as the capital and other cities nationwide ground to a halt in protest over 15 months of cost-cutting measures by the government of President Fernando De la Rua.
In Buenos Aires, classrooms sat empty during a teacher walkout, rush hour traffic was snarled and trash piled up on street corners. Unions representing trash collectors, airline workers and public school teachers all heeded the work stoppage. Two economy ministers under De la Rua have resigned this year after failing to pull Argentina from a long slump, and workers complain they've had enough of spending cuts and tax hikes as the recession now stretches into its 33rd month.
BEIJING
U.S. researcher detained in China
A Chinese-born scholar from American University in Washington, D.C., has been detained by Chinese police for nearly six weeks, and her husband and 5-year-old son were held separately for nearly a month before being reunited and allowed to leave China, a human rights group said Wednesday.
Gao Zhan was picked up Feb. 11 at the Beijing airport with her husband and son as they were leaving after a family visit, Human Rights in China said. Her husband, Xue Donghua, and son were released 26 days later and returned to the United States.
Gao, a political scientist, is the third Chinese-born researcher in as many years to be detained during a visit home.
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