Geneva

WTO rules with U.S. on lumber duties

A World Trade Organization appeals panel gave a boost to the United States on Monday, reversing most of an earlier ruling that said U.S. special duties on Canadian lumber were illegal.

The panel agreed with U.S. claims that lumber from state-owned lands in Canada could be unfairly subsidized if provincial governments sold the wood at below-market price. Therefore the United States has the right to impose extra duties to prevent cheap Canadian wood harming U.S. manufacturers, the panel said.

It stressed, however, that Washington would still have to carry out more extensive investigations before it could justify imposing duties on some imports of logs.

Berlin

Suspect arrested in Nazi massacres

German authorities said Monday they have arrested an 86-year-old man who allegedly led a Nazi-backed unit involved in the World War II massacres of civilians in Slovakia and the capture of U.S. and British intelligence agents, as well as an American journalist.

Ladislav Niznansky is being investigated for possible charges of 164 counts of murder relating to killings of civilians in three Slovak villages in early 1945, Munich prosecutors said. If charged, he could become one of the last Nazi-era suspects to be tried in Germany.

Niznansky, arrested Friday at his Munich home, is accused of having headed the Slovak section of a Nazi unit code-named Edelweiss, which hunted resistance fighters after the Germans crushed an uprising against Slovakia’s Nazi puppet government in 1944.

He is not being investigated for the capture of the Americans and Britons.

Norway

Two dead, 16 missing after freighter capsizes

A large freighter with 30 people aboard capsized near the western Norwegian port of Bergen on Monday, with rescuers working into the night to free some of them by cutting a hole through the overturned hull. Two people were killed.

Birgit Sildnes, a spokeswoman for the Rescue Coordination Center for Southern Norway, said two were reported dead, 12 had been pulled from the ship or rescued from the icy water, and 16 were missing. Survivors were taken to area hospitals. Most were in good condition.

The 544-foot Norwegian-owned freighter MS Rocknes sent out a distress call before it capsized about 200 yards off the western island of Bjoroey at about 4:30 p.m. Rescue ships and small boats were able to respond quickly because one of Norway’s naval bases was nearby with ample rescue equipment.

Beijing

Human trials approved for SARS vaccine

China has approved human trials of an experimental SARS vaccine, and 30 people have volunteered, state media reported Monday.

Researchers cautioned that the government’s approval of what it called the first phase of human trials didn’t mean the vaccine can be produced for widespread use soon, China Central Television said.

China had said it planned to inject volunteers this month with a vaccine made from the dead virus that scientists say causes severe acute respiratory syndrome. It said tests on animals have shown it to be effective.