SOMALIA
Danes free 18 hostages held by pirates
COPENHAGEN, Denmark | Danish assault teams freed 16 Pakistanis and two Iranians held by suspected Somali pirates, a navy official said Monday.
Three pirates were wounded in a firefight with Danish commandos after they boarded the vessel off Somalia’s coast April 2, spokesman Kenneth Nielsen said.
The operation targeted an Iranian fishing boat that the pirates had used as a mothership. They also seized weapons and equipment.
The pirates are being held on Esbern Snare, a Danish ship that is part of NATO’s anti-piracy force.
CHINA
China ordains bishop approved by Vatican
BEIJING | China has ordained a new Catholic bishop approved by the Vatican for the first time since ties between the sides soured last year, church sources said Monday.
Paul Liang Jiansen was made bishop of the southern city of Jiangmen on March 30, people with ties to the church in Hong Kong and mainland China said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to be quoted.
China and the Vatican have no official relations and have long sparred over the Holy See’s insistence on the right to appoint bishops. China’s communist rulers, who forced Chinese Catholics to cut ties with Rome in 1951, insist that bishops be elected by members of the government-backed church.
PORTUGAL
Politics could unravel bailout deal
LISBON | Portugal’s massive rescue package was threatened on two sides Monday — by internal political squabbling and external bailout fatigue among EU neighbors — and it was not clear whether the proposed deal would last.
A delegation from the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Commission — bodies that will raise the estimated $115.5 billion bailout for Portugal and oversee its use — is expected in Lisbon on Tuesday for initial talks.
European finance ministers agreed Friday to put up the money that Portugal needs, making it the third country in the 17-nation eurozone to accept a huge financial lifeline.
But a domestic political spat about the scope and terms of the bailout package threaten to slow negotiations and prolong Portugal’s plight just as it needs to honor debt repayments amounting to more than $15.9 billion over the next three months.
BELARUS
Subway blast kills 7 during rush hour
MINSK | An explosion tore through a key subway station in the capital of Minsk during evening rush hour Monday, killing seven commuters and injuring about 50, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.
A reporter at the scene saw severely wounded people being carried out of the Oktyabrskaya station, including one person whose legs were missing.
Several witnesses said the explosion roared out just as passengers were stepping off a train at about 6 p.m. The Oktyabrskaya station, where Minsk’s two subway lines intersect, was crowded with transferring passengers at the end of the work day.
The station is within 100 yards of the government’s main building, the Palace of the Republic, as well as the residence of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.
There was no immediate indication of whether the blast was an accident or a terrorist attack.
IRAN
More uranium needed for research reactors
TEHRAN | Iran will need more enriched uranium to fuel the “four or five” new research reactors it is planning to build, the country’s nuclear chief said on Monday.
Fereidoun Abbasi told the semi-official ISNA news agency that Iran is planning to build the new research reactors “in the next few years” to produce medical radioisotopes for patients.
To fuel these reactors, Iran needs to continue enriching uranium, which alarms the West because the process could be used to produce material for a nuclear weapon.
Tehran contends its nuclear program is intended for civilian power only.
TAJIKISTAN
Muslims to ban text-message divorce
DUSHANBE | Tajik religious authorities said Monday that divorce by text message soon will be banned, as they seek to stamp out the practice in the mainly Muslim Central Asian nation.
Abdurakhim Kholikov, chairman of state religious affairs committee, said that sending the messages with the “triple talaq” — a Muslim ritual whereby a husband can end a marriage by reciting the term for divorce three times — breaches Islamic law.
Divorce by text message has become common in Tajikistan, particularly among migrant laborers living abroad.
• From wire dispatches and staff reports
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