Belgium

EU ministers approve single air traffic system

European Union transport ministers agreed Thursday to unify the EU’s fragmented air traffic control system in an effort to reduce congestion and delays for travelers.

The ministers also approved plans to increase compensation for passengers affected by overbooking, canceled flights or excessive delays.

Under the “single sky” air traffic control agreement, the patchwork of national air traffic controllers will fall under one set of regulations from 2005 to allow carriers to set more direct routes, increase safety and reduce congestion in Europe’s crowded skies.

Ministers overcame differences over military use of airspace and worries that the plan would lead to job losses among air traffic controllers.

Indonesia

Explosions kill three

Explosions ripped through a McDonald’s restaurant and a car dealership Thursday in eastern Indonesia, killing three and wounding two, police said.

The explosions occurred an hour apart in the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar, 1,000 miles east of the Indonesia capital of Jakarta, said police Sgt. Hidayat, who uses only one name.

Bomb blasts have become a regular feature of a running conflict between Muslims and Christians on Sulawesi island. Since 1999, nearly 2,000 have died in the fighting and tens of thousands have been left homeless. Attackers in Sulawesi rarely target Western interests like McDonald’s.

No one took responsibility for the blasts, Hidayat said, adding that authorities had not ruled out an accidental explosion at the McDonald’s. Hidayat also refused to say what caused the second explosion at the car dealership, owned by Indonesian Welfare Minister Jusuf Kalla.

All the victims were at the McDonald’s in a shopping mall.

Norway

Sri Lanka nears pact to resolve ethnic conflict

After a bitter 19-year war, Sri Lanka and Tamil Tiger rebels reached a breakthrough in their quest for peace Thursday, agreeing on a way to govern their ethnically divided island as one nation.

At the end of four days of peace talks in Oslo, both sides said they were leaving with a firm commitment to develop a lasting peace. They meet again in January for more talks.

The sides agreed to pursue a federal model of shared power once a final peace pact has been reached.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam had long demanded a separate homeland for the island’s 3.2 million Tamil minority. They claim the country’s 14 million Sinhalese discriminate against them. The fighting has claimed nearly 65,000 lives and displaced another 1.6 million people.

Last week, however, they said they would accept being a part of Sri Lanka in exchange for significant autonomy.

Paraguay

Lawmakers initiate impeachment process

Lawmakers voted Thursday to begin impeachment hearings against President Luis Gonzalez Macchi, deepening political and economic turmoil in this troubled South American country.

In a session of Paraguay’s lower house, opponents of Gonzalez Macchi accused the president of possessing an automobile reported to be stolen and mishandling millions of dollars in state funds.

The issue now rests with Paraguay’s Senate. No timetable was set for senators to examine the charges.