Netherlands

Bosnian admits to role in massacre of Muslims

A former Bosnian Serb police commander, charged in the murder of more than 200 men, pleaded guilty to war crimes Thursday at the Yugoslav tribunal in a deal with U.N. prosecutors.

Darko Mrdja, 36, confessed to one count of murder as a war crime and a second count of a crimes against humanity. In exchange, prosecutors said they would drop a third charge and recommend a prison sentence of 15-20 years.

Judges are not bound to the recommendation, and Mrdja could face a sentence of up to life. A date for the sentencing has not yet been set.

Last June, Mrdja pleaded innocent to three charges for the Aug. 21, 1992, massacre near Vlasic Mountain in eastern Bosnia. He commanded Bosnian Serb police forces who allegedly killed 228 Muslim men by shooting them or pushing them off a cliff.

Pakistan

Newsweek issue banned as ‘insulting to Quran’

Pakistan has banned the latest issue of Newsweek’s international edition, saying an article on new interpretations of the Quran offends Islam.

The information minister said Thursday that customs authorities had been ordered to seize copies of the edition.

“The article is insulting to the Quran,” the minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, told The Associated Press. He said officials feared the article could incite violence in a nation wracked by feuding between militant members of the Sunni and Shiite sects of Islam.

“The decision was taken to prevent religious violence and control law and order situation.”

In New York, Ken Weine, a Newsweek spokesman, said the magazine stood by its story. “This does happen in some places around the world with one of our 10 international editions,” he said.

MEXICO CITY

Report: President Fox took illegal donations

President Vicente Fox’s campaign violated election law by accepting more than half a million dollars in illegal donations during his successful presidential bid in 2000, investigators charged Thursday.

The Federal Electoral Institute said in a report that the Fox campaign took donations of $100,000 and $160,000 from two foreign donors.

Investigators compiling the report also found that Fox’s campaign received $284,000 in contributions from sitting senators from his conservative National Action Party, also an election law violation.

In addition, the president’s campaign failed to report $9.3 million in general donations it received throughout the entire campaign, the report said.

Fox’s spokeswoman could not immediately be reached.