World briefs 03/03/03

Teen killed, 25 wounded in incursion into Gaza

JERUSALEM -- Israeli tanks firing shells and machine guns moved into two neighboring refugee camps in central Gaza today, witnesses said. A 14-year-old boy was killed and 25 Palestinians were wounded in the incursion, hospital officials said.

It was the second incursion into Gaza in as many days.

Witnesses said the focus of the incursion was the Bureij camp, where soldiers blew up two houses after demanding that residents leave. One house belonged to Mohammed Taha, the local Hamas leader.

The violence came after Israel's new Cabinet ministers officially took office on Sunday, bringing to power a hawkish government that appears set to continue using tough military measures to suppress the 29-month-old Palestinian uprising.

On Sunday, Israel defense minister pledged to step up assaults on Hamas militants on a day when three Palestinians were shot and killed in the Gaza Strip and Israeli media reported that Hamas militants had plotted to assassinate Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

The new violence coincided with Israel's new Cabinet taking office, seating a government that appears set to continue tough military measures to suppress the 29-month-old Palestinian uprising.

Beethoven's lost oboe concerto performed

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands -- Musicologists puzzled over a lost Ludwig von Beethoven concerto for decades, ever since the 1960s discovery of the sketch of a single movement among the composer's papers.

Now, two Dutch Beethoven enthusiasts have pieced together the musical clues, put them into 18th-century orchestral context and reconstructed the second movement of the only oboe concerto Beethoven wrote.

The slow, melodic Largo movement of the Oboe Concerto in F Major was performed Saturday night in Rotterdam and billed as a "world premiere" -- even though the full concerto was performed at least once before, 210 years ago.

"Premieres happen all the time. But a Beethoven piece that's never been heard?" said Conrad van Alphen, conductor of the Rotterdam Chamber Orchestra. "To have a Beethoven premiere is really special."

The eight-minute piece was slipped into an evening of concert standards by Mozart and C.P.E. Bach without fanfare, barring a bold-print note on the program announcing the "premiere."

Hard-liners win local Iranian electionsTEHRAN, Iran -- Hard-line candidates swept to victory in local Iranian council elections, the Interior Ministry announced Sunday, a reflection of discontent with reformers' inability to initiate social and political change in this conservative Islamic state.

Voter turnout was high in many cities and villages throughout the country except in the capital, Tehran, where a meager 10 percent of eligible voters cast ballots, the Interior Ministry announced Sunday.

Hard-liners, who had not won in local elections in eight years, took 14 of 15 possible fixed seats on the Tehran City Council, even as large hard-line groups effectively boycotted the polls, with lower-level hard-liner candidates running independently.

Just three leading reformists, including Mostafa Tajzadeh, and liberal dissident Ali Reza Rajaei were elected as standby members in Tehran, together with a few independent candidates, in case any of the 15 winners fail to claim their seats.

Even before final results were announced, reformists conceded defeat but said the ruling establishment should note the significant decline in voter turnout.

-- From wire reports