Belfast
Another Good Friday came and went while Ulster's politicians seemed to drift farther away from the peace envisaged in the agreement they signed on that day two years ago. British Prime Minister Tony Blair met with his Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern twice in three days but offered no path out of the impasse. The IRA's traditional Easter message gave no hint of flexibility on arms decommissioning. The only hopeful sign was a press report that Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble planned to reform his party's rules to eliminate the council seats automatically granted to the hard-line Orange Order. But critics claimed that Trimble's efforts to strengthen the forces of moderation could lead to a "witch hunt" which could split the quarrelsome party before next year's likely general election.
Bratislava
Former Slovakian Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar was arrested and charged with abuse of power after armed police staged a raid on his villa in the central town of Trencianske Teplice. Meciar is accused of paying illegal bonuses totaling $325,000 to his ministers during his two terms of office from 1993 to 1998. He was also questioned in connection with the 1995 abduction of former President Michal Kovac's son, widely believed to have been carried out by the secret police. A spokes-person from Meciar's HZDS party called the allegations "absolute nonsense" and said that it planned to take legal action against the police. Meciar's authoritarian premiership led to accusations by the U.S. and the European Union of failing to respect the rule of law and backsliding on democratic reforms. Despite being unseated at elections in 1998 by a coalition of four parties, he retains popular support among Slovaks.
Nis
The largest mass trial in Serbia's history opened in the southern city of Nis, where 144 Kosovo Albanians stand accused of "terrorist activities" leading to the deaths of three Serb police officers. The defendants, mostly residents of Djakovica in southwest Kosovo, were arrested shortly before NATO's bombing campaign forced the Serbian police and military out of the province last June. Meanwhile, Dragan Nikolic, a Bosnian Serb and the first suspect ever indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, was arrested by NATO forces in northern Bosnia and flown to the Hague for trial. Indicted in 1994, Nikolic — former commander of the Susica detention camp in eastern Bosnia — is accused of raping, torturing and killing Muslim prisoners.
Nicosia
The veteran leader of the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Rauf Denktash, secured an additional four years in power after his rival candidate, Prime Minister Dervis Eroglu, pulled out of the presidential race ahead of a runoff vote which he seemed certain to lose. Denktash's re-election bolsters his negotiating position against Greek Cypriots ahead of crucial U.N.-sponsored talks in New York scheduled for May 23, which Western envoys say offer the best chance for peace after 26 years of ethnic division. Denktash has led the breakaway state since 1974, and is internationally identified as the voice of Turkish Cypriots.
Beirut
Thirteen Lebanese men received a rapturous welcome home after their release by Israel, which had held them for up to 14 years as "bargaining chips" for Israeli soldiers missing in action. Their liberation followed a favorable ruling by Israel's Supreme Court on a petition made by five of the men. Reversing a 1997 decision, the Supreme Court determined that Israel cannot hold detainees who do not pose a direct threat to state security. Still hoping for information on their mias, Israeli officials chose not to release the last two of their bargaining chips: Shi'ite religious figure Sheik Abd al-Karim Obeid and militia leader Mustafa al-Dirani, who did not join in the petition. Al-Dirani has filed a civil suit against the Israeli government charging torture at the hands of his captors.
Harare
In the week of Zimbabwe's 20th anniversary of independence, the crisis over the illegal occupation of around 1,000 white-owned farms deepened. Despite promises by the leader of the squatters to end the hostilities, two white farmers and two black opposition activists were killed and two rapes were reported, while gangs of attackers torched the homes of hundreds of farm workers. President Robert Mugabe, who has refused to order his supporters off the farms, poured fuel on the situation by calling white farmers "enemies of the state." His demands for a comprehensive land redistribution program, to be funded by the U.K. and other international donors, were backed by other Southern African heads of state at a regional summit.
Nairobi
At a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), African nations agreed to a two-year delay in the resumption of ivory sales until an effective system can be put in place to prevent widespread poaching of elephants. Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe had wanted a limited trade in ivory obtained from dead or culled animals. But Kenya, whose herds were decimated by poaching in the 1970s and 1980s, and India want to ban all trade in elephant products. A compromise deal will allow the Southern African states to trade in live elephants and elephant hides, but not in ivory, on the basis that it takes poachers much longer to skin a dead elephant than to hack off its tusks.
New Delhi
Britain and France became the latest of the big powers to express their support for India's bid to gain a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council. A week earlier, the U.S. envoy in India said that Washington was "prepared to give India a serious consideration." The backing of these three of the five permanent council members is in marked contrast to international opinion in 1998, when India carried out controversial tests of nuclear weapons. Russia has long thrown its weight behind its old cold war ally's ambition for a permanent seat. China, the fifth and only Asian member, has not publicly voiced opposition but is thought to take a dim view of bringing regional rivals India and Japan to the powerful table.
Davao
In the country's worst air disaster, an Air Philippines Boeing 737-200 crashed into a hillside as it prepared to land at Davao Airport near Samal Island, a popular holiday resort, during an early morning flight from Manila. All 124 passengers and seven crew members on board were killed. Air traffic controllers said that visibility may have been hampered by low-lying clouds. An investigation into the crash, due to begin this week, will focus on the history of the 22-year-old aircraft and on whether navigational aids at Davao Airport, which is not equipped for instrument landings, were functioning correctly. The crash was the third major transportation disaster in the Philippines in a week, following two ferry accidents in which over 140 people died.
Montreal
Police arrested and charged a 15-year-old boy for allegedly launching a cyberattack that paralyzed CNN's websites for several hours on Feb. 8. The hacker, who used the Internet nickname Mafiaboy, was caught after bragging about the attack on an Internet chat line. Police say they expect to make more arrests relating to attacks in the same week that shut down several other well-known sites, including Yahoo, Amazon.com, eBay and E*Trade. Mafiaboy was charged with two counts of mischief, a federal offense, for interfering with data. As a young offender under Canadian law, he could face a maximum fine of $680 and up to two years in a youth detention center if convicted.
Santiago
A group of 20 neo-Nazis were forced to abandon a controversial meeting after police discovered their secret location at the beach resort of Concón in central Chile. The meeting had gone ahead despite the arrest of its organizer, National Socialist Party leader Alexis López, on fraud charges. The Chilean government had made every effort to prevent the meeting from taking place since it was announced more than a year ago. This included carrying out strict border checks to prevent known members of foreign neo-Nazi groups from entering the country.
Pôrto Seguro
As Brazil prepared to mark the 500th anniversary of its discovery with a week of celebrations, nearly 2,000 indigenous people and landless farmers gathered at the beach where Portuguese sailors first set foot in the country on April 22, 1500, for a conference to highlight their continued land claims and other issues such as poverty and disease. Leaders of 180 tribes issued a statement accusing Brazil of genocide, claiming more than 5 million Indians had been killed owing to government policies over 500 years. Fears of large protests in the area forced President Fernando Henrique Cardoso to cancel all but one open-air ceremony and a few indoor events on his agenda.