South Africa: New political group promotes development

African leaders on Tuesday launched the African Union, an ambitious new body that seeks to pull the beleaguered continent out of poverty and conflict.

“We as Africans have a common and a shared destiny. Together we must redefine this destiny for a better life for all the people of this continent,” South African President Thabo Mbeki told thousands at a celebratory kickoff at a stadium in Durban.

Mbeki, the African Union’s first chairman, has been a driving force behind its creation. He envisages it as the engine to transform Africa, sparking foreign investment and development through the promotion of democracy and good governance.

Talk of unity won’t be enough, said critics who questioned whether the new body would have the resources or political will to enforce its lofty goals or would be another toothless bureaucracy like its predecessor, the Organization of African Unity.

Poland: Findings won’t bring charges in massacre

A 20-month investigation has concluded Poles, not their Nazi occupiers, carried out the 1941 massacre of Jews in a village in the north of the country, but prosecutors said Tuesday there was no evidence to support bringing new charges.

As many as 1,600 Jews are believed to have been beaten to death or burned alive in a barn in the village of Jedwabne, 118 miles northeast of the Warsaw, the Polish capital. For six decades the July 10, 1941, attack on Jews had been blamed on Nazi troops.

But prosecutor Radoslaw Ignatiew said evidence bones from mass graves, bullets, and witness testimony left no doubt that “Polish residents of Jedwabne and surroundings, men numbering at least 40” committed the crimes.

Turkey: Prime minister defiant amid Cabinet defections

Turkey’s coalition government crumbled further as three more Cabinet ministers resigned Tuesday, threatening the stability of a crucial U.S. ally.

Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit reshuffled his Cabinet, appointing loyalists to some of the vacated posts in a sign he will fight rather than step down. Still, there appears to be little chance the ailing 77-year-old premier can stay in power after being deserted by more than a quarter of his party’s legislators.

Analysts say the disintegration of Ecevit’s government could open the road for economic and political reforms that have been blocked by the coalition government, which has been more concerned with its survival than policy.

But the resignations also bring up the possibility of weeks or even months of political infighting.

Rome: Police shut porn sites with Catholic imagery

Italian police closed down five U.S.-based Web sites that had been blaspheming Catholicism with a combination of pornographic pictures and offensive statements about the Madonna, police said Tuesday.

Investigators first learned about the sites, with names that translate into phrases including “Pig Madonna” and “Blasphemy,” in 2000.

“At these addresses, the mention of God and the Madonna, besides being preceded by strongly vulgar language, was tied to explicit images of sex,” the police said in a statement.

Blasphemy is illegal in Italy and although cursing has been decriminalized, publishing or broadcasting sacrilegious material can be prosecuted, police said.

A man from Rome faces charges in the case. Authorities were still working on what exactly the charges might be, but Montanaro said the man could face imprisonment and a fine.