Jerusalem

Palestinian convicted in deaths of two soldiers

An Israeli military court convicted a Palestinian police officer Tuesday in the brutal killing of two Israeli soldiers in a West Bank police station that drew international outrage, the army said.

Widely broadcast footage of a jubilant Palestinian mob on Oct. 12, 2000, pounding the soldiers’ mangled bodies, one of which was thrown from a window of the police station, horrified Israelis and hardened attitudes toward Palestinians.

Military prosecutors had charged Raed Sheikh, 29, with willfully causing the death of Vadim Norjitz and Yossi Avrahami, two Israeli reservists beaten and stabbed to death in Ramallah, just as the current cycle of Mideast violence gathered steam.

After the killings, many Israelis withdrew support from the government of Ehud Barak, who had sought to make peace with the Palestinians. Barak was routed by Israel’s current hardline Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in national elections four months later.

Russia

U.S. lawmakers given access to nuclear site

A U.S. congressional delegation was given access Tuesday to a top secret production and storage site for weapons-grade plutonium, and said Russian officials at the plant were concerned the material could fall into the hands of terrorists.

Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., and other lawmakers were the first members of Congress — and the first Americans — to set eyes on the underground facility in the closed Siberian city of Zheleznogorsk, the highly secretive cradle of the Soviet Union’s nuclear might.

The visit is part of an initiative by Weldon and other members of Congress on the Armed Service Committee to improve transparency at Russia’s nuclear, chemical and biological weapons facilities.

The delegation will present their recommendations to Congress next week.

United Nations

Resolution aimed at protecting staff

The Security Council unanimously approved a resolution aimed at protecting U.N. staffers Tuesday, after members dropped a reference to the International Criminal Court, which the United States opposes.

The resolution had languished since late April because of U.S. opposition, but surged into the spotlight after last week’s bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq. It calls for protecting U.N. and other humanitarian workers — and prosecuting those who try to harm them.

Mexico and the other supporters of the resolution reached agreement with the United States early Tuesday evening on the final obstacle — defining what constitutes a war crime against humanitarian personnel — clearing the way for the 15-0 vote.

Germany

American breaks own roller-coaster record

An American set a world record for roller-coaster riding Tuesday, surpassing his own mark of 147 hours after six days of careening rides in a German amusement park, organizers said.

Richard Rodriguez, 43, followed Guinness Book of Records rules requiring eight-hour periods of riding with no more than 15-minute breaks, the Holiday Park in the southwest German town of Hassloch said in a statement.

Rodriguez, who teaches English at Loyola University in Chicago, used two roller-coasters at the amusement park in his record chase.

For the purpose, one car on each ride was equipped with a small toilet and with seat padding so he could sleep while riding.

Rodriguez first set a record of 147 hours at Holiday Park on July 16, then set out to surpass that mark last Wednesday, organizers said. He plans to stop later this week after reaching 195 hours.