Briefly

North Korea

Communist leader’s re-election confirmed

North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament re-elected Kim Jong Il the communist country’s leader Wednesday and endorsed Pyongyang’s decision to “increase its nuclear deterrent,” spurring orchestrated celebrations by dancing housewives and loyal soldiers.

Kim, 61, was approved to a new five-year term as chairman of the North’s highest governing body, the National Defense Commission.

The carefully choreographed festivities came as Kim upped the stakes in negotiations about the North’s nuclear weapons program.

North Korea said it would give up its program only if Washington guaranteed the Pyongyang regime’s security by signing a nonaggression treaty and providing badly needed economic aid.

Ireland

Judge probing priest abuse resigns

A judge overseeing a mammoth investigation into child abuse at Catholic Church-run schools and orphanages in Dublin is resigning in a clash with the government about the workload and cost of the probe.

Justice Mary Laffoy announced Tuesday night that she would resign as chairwoman of the Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse once her six-member panel published an interim report in November. The commission also announced it was suspending all hearings that involve alleged victims confronting their alleged abusers, a process that had been challenged in court.

Laffoy’s resignation raised doubts about whether the commission ever would issue a formal report, and it was unclear if or when a successor would be appointed.

Netherlands

Dutch customs finds 2,000 baboon noses

Around 2,000 baboon noses were found in an abandoned suitcase at Amsterdam airport after they started to stink, officials said Wednesday.

The noses were en route from Lagos to the United States, apparently intended for an immigrant market.

Baboons are protected under international law. Their noses are used in traditional medicine in parts of Asia and Africa.

Dutch customs police discovered the suitcase at a baggage claim last week. They turned the case over to Agriculture Ministry’s Inspection Service, which said it had several leads that may help it track down the culprits.

“We assume these animals were killed, and we have to prevent something like this from happening again,” spokesman Louis Steens said. He said the noses were destroyed.

Iraq

U.S. sergeant sentenced for deadly crash

An Army sergeant who was accused of driving recklessly in a Humvee in Iraq when it flipped and crushed a soldier was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to seven years in prison, a military spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Sgt. Oscar Nelson III, 25, of Dundalk was accused of driving erratically and at excessive speed when the vehicle rolled over and killed Spc. Nathaniel Caldwell Jr. in the early hours of May 21.

A military judge found Nelson guilty of involuntary manslaughter, making a false official statement and obstruction of justice, Army spokeswoman Maj. Josslyn Aberle said in an e-mailed statement from Iraq. Nelson could have received life in prison on a charge of unpremeditated murder during the general court-martial in Tikrit that ended Monday.