Toronto

Officials announce two more SARS deaths

Two more people have died of SARS in Canada, raising the country’s death toll from the respiratory illness to 38, Ontario’s public health commissioner said Sunday.

The victims were an 81-year-old woman and a 55-year-old man who had been ill for a long time, commissioner Colin D’Cunha said.

The government released no further details and said its next update on the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome would be today. Canada had 28 active probable SARS cases Friday compared with 64 on June 10.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong reported no new SARS cases Sunday, paving the way for the World Health Organization to remove the once-hard-hit territory from its list of SARS-infected areas.

Sunday was the 20th day since the last confirmed SARS patient in Hong Kong was hospitalized.

Paris

Officials investigate some Iranian exiles

French judges put 17 suspects under investigation for links to terrorism in a crackdown on an Iranian exile group that triggered protests in several European capitals by the group’s supporters, officials said Sunday.

The suspects placed under investigation — one step short of being charged — include Maryam Rajavi, a co-leader of the Mujahedeen Khalq and wife of the group’s chief, judicial officials said.

Police on Tuesday raided the Mujahedeen Khalq’s offices near Paris. Authorities initially detained more than 150 members of the group, which the United States and European Union have linked to terrorism. Rajavi and 10 others remain in custody.

The raids set off protests by Mujahedeen supporters in Paris, Rome, London and elsewhere in Europe, with several people setting themselves on fire.

Philippines

Government to resume talks with Muslim rebels

After a Muslim rebel group publicly rejected terrorism, the government said Sunday it was ready to declare a permanent cease-fire and restart formal negotiations on ending a decades-old insurgency in the south.

The government was reacting to a statement issued by Moro Islamic Liberation Front chairman Salamat Hashim saying that terrorism “is anathema to the teachings of Islam” and that his group rejects and denies “any link with terrorist organizations.”

The government has accused the rebels of ties with the regional militant Islamic network Jemaah Islamiyah.

More than 200 people, most of them civilians, have been killed this year on the main southern island of Mindanao, where the 12,000-strong rebel group has waged a three-decade-old insurgency for Muslim self-rule. The government is offering more autonomy for Muslim areas but says it will never allow full independence.

Poland

Abortion rights ship greeted by protesters

Protesters threw red paint at a ship crewed by a Dutch abortion rights group as it arrived Sunday in Poland.

Dozens of people, many shouting “murderers” and waving Polish flags, met the Langenort as it pulled into the Baltic Sea port of Wladyslawowo.

They included a small group of women who applauded the arrival of Women on Waves, a group who says the purpose of its trip is to offer Polish women advice on contraceptives. Poland has some of Europe’s strictest anti-abortion laws.

The ship has a makeshift operating room, but the group says it will not perform surgical abortions.

On past voyages to nations with strict anti-abortion laws, the group said it would instead distribute the abortion drug RU-486 to women after taking them into international waters.