World briefs - Ireland seeks to bring spending under control

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Ireland's government announced Thursday it will slash spending to cope with the waning of its vaunted Celtic Tiger economy.

Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy said 2003 spending would rise by less than 2 percent to $37.6 billion, a stunning turnaround from the double-digit increases of recent years fueled by record tax receipts on the back of an unprecedented boom.

"It's about making choices, and we're making the hard choices now in order to protect us into the future," McCreevy said. "I think we should learn from the mistakes we've made in the past."

Opposition politicians and economists noted the proposed increase wouldn't keep pace with the current annual inflation rate of 4.6 percent, the highest in Europe, so Ireland faced its first cut in real spending in more than a decade.

Since coming to power in 1997, Prime Minister Bertie Ahern had the luxury of reducing income tax, boosting spending in all government departments and cutting the national debt. In 2000, the government had a $3.5 billion surplus.

Japanese families sign $13 million settlement

TOKYO -- The families of 33 people who were aboard a Japanese fishing trawler sunk by a U.S. submarine off Hawaii agreed to a reported $13 million compensation package from the U.S. Navy on Thursday.

Lawyers representing the families and the U.S. government signed the deal at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. Negotiations between the Navy and two other families are continuing separately.

The U.S. Navy will make a total payment of 1.6 billion yen, or $13 million, according to local media reports. Lawyers' offices and a U.S. Navy spokesman refused to confirm the amount, citing the relatives' privacy.

But families said the reconciliation package did little to ease their pain.

Artifact with possible link to Jesus on display

TORONTO -- A limestone burial box that may be the oldest archaeological link to Jesus goes on public display Friday after Royal Ontario Museum curators repaired cracks incurred on its trip from Israel.

The 20 by 11- inch box, known as the James ossuary, has an inscription that reads, from right to left, "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus."

Museum officials unveiled the repaired ossuary Thursday, giving journalists a view of the artifact that drew global attention when its existence was made public last month Biblical Archaeology Review.

A beige box sits in a glass case in the center of a red-painted room on the third floor of the museum. A crack that runs through "brother" and "of" in the inscription is visible by the lighter beige filling.

Informational text written in black on the walls contains historical, biblical and archaeological details.

Gates travels to India for immunization work

HYDERABAD, India -- Microsoft chairman Bill Gates visited India's software hub Thursday to talk business and immunize children, winding up a tour during which he pledged $500 million.

Gates met with Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and health officials in Andhra Pradesh state to review progress made by a child immunization program funded by his foundation.

The Microsoft chief visited a health clinic in rural Mehbubnagar, 30 miles south of Hyderabad, the state capital, where he launched the second phase of the program that seeks to help more than 1 million Indian children each year.

With Naidu at his side, Gates toured the clinic and administered polio vaccines to several children. "Is the hospital always full of patients like this?" he asked doctors, who replied in the affirmative.

"I am so happy to visit the health clinic and meet the doctors and mothers, see vaccinations that work and see how excited the people are about the help for their children," Gates told the doctors.

--From wire reports