Argentina

City officials charged in deadly nightclub fire

Five former municipal officials have been charged with manslaughter in connection with the December 2004 Buenos Aires nightclub fire that claimed 193 lives.

Judge Marcelo Lucini handed down the charges Friday against a city official, Fabiana Fiszbin, and four others who had oversight of the city’s nightclubs at the time of the Dec. 30 fire at the Cromagnon Republic club in downtown Buenos Aires.

The charges came after months of investigation.

Authorities probed reports that a flare launched by someone during an indoor rock concert sparked the fire at the Cromagnon Republic club. Reeling from thick smoke, panicked crowds surged toward the doors, but exits were reportedly locked.

Although the club had a reported capacity of 1,500, authorities said investigators were looking into accounts that 4,000 people were in the club at the time of the fire, considered the worst tragedy here in decades.

Rome

Benedict XVI completes formal papal takeover

Pope Benedict XVI completed the formal takeover of papal power Saturday by assuming his important role as bishop of Rome, ascending to the marble throne of one of Christianity’s oldest churches.

With crowds of pilgrims and tourists cheering him on, Benedict rode from the walled-in confines of the Vatican to the basilica of St. John Lateran in southeast Rome. He stood in the back of a black, open-topped Mercedes, waving and nearly falling when the car revved up the front steps of the ancient church.

Inside, he followed a procession to take his seat as the bishop of Rome.

The church where the ceremony took place was the first Christian basilica built in Rome. It was constructed by Constantine in the fourth century and served as the official papal residence until 1309.

Indonesia

Envoy: Military ties depend on help in probe

Indonesia must do more to pursue justice in the shooting deaths of two American schoolteachers three years ago before Washington can agree to restore military ties with Indonesia, a senior U.S. diplomat said Saturday.

Washington banned military ties with Indonesia in 1999 after Indonesian troops devastated the province of East Timor following a U.N.-organized independence referendum.

But the Bush administration now wants to resume full ties with Indonesia’s military, which it views as a bulwark against Islamic militancy in the world’s most populous Muslim nation.

In February, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice lifted restrictions on Jakarta’s participation in the Pentagon’s International Military Education and Training program.

Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick described the $600,000 program as “very limited.”

“For us to do more, we need more progress in terms of that investigation,” he said.

Zoellick said Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and other top officials had agreed to cooperate fully in the investigation of the ambush in which eight other Americans — including a 6-year-old child — were injured.

Northern Ireland

Nobel laureate resigns after losing election

Nobel Peace Prize laureate David Trimble, a backer of Northern Ireland’s 1998 peace accord, said Saturday he will resign as Ulster Unionist Party leader after losing a battle to steer fellow Protestants toward compromise with Roman Catholics.

Trimble’s decision to quit followed the Ulster Unionists’ worst-ever performance in British parliamentary elections Thursday. The party that once dominated politics in this predominantly Protestant territory retained just one of Northern Ireland’s 18 seats.

In a statement issued by Ulster Unionist headquarters in Belfast, the 60-year-old Trimble said: “I do not wish to continue as leader.”

The Ulster Unionists declined to say when Trimble’s resignation would take effect or when its grass-roots council would name a successor.