World briefs 06/03/03

SARS handling will be reviewed, officials say

TORONTO -- Officials announced another death and 10 more SARS cases in Canada's largest city Monday and said they would review how they handled a renewed outbreak of the flu-like illness after accusations that warnings were ignored.

Signaling that the crisis may be easing in Asia, China reported no new cases of SARS on Monday for the first time since April, while Taiwan reported only one new SARS case on Tuesday, the lowest since the island's first hospital outbreak erupted in late April.

"It's heartening. But it's not time to think that SARS has been beaten," said Bob Dietz, the World Health Organization spokesman in Beijing. "No one should drop their guard yet."

The global death toll from SARS rose to at least 772 on Monday with two new deaths reported in China, one in Hong Kong and one in Toronto. More than 8,300 people have been sickened by the flu-like illness, most of them in Asia.

Canada's latest victim of severe acute respiratory syndrome was a 60-year-old man who died May 20 and had his case reviewed under increased monitoring for possible undiagnosed patients, said Dr. Colin D'Cunha, the Ontario commissioner of public health.

U.N. special envoy arrives to take up post in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The new U.N. representative to Iraq arrived for work Monday, saying his main priority is to ensure the quick establishment of an interim authority and pave the way for a democratic government.

"Iraq has suffered far too much for far too long," Sergio Vieira de Mello, said upon arriving in Baghdad. "Iraqis deserve better -- infinitely better."

A U.N. Security Council resolution, adopted last month, entrusts Vieira de Mello to work "intensively" with both the Iraqi people and the occupying powers -- the United States and Britain -- toward the formation of an independent Iraqi government.

The Security Council also lifted economic sanctions against Iraq last month, allowing money from the sale of Iraqi oil to go into a new development fund to be run by the United States and Britain to finance reconstruction.

New prison opens in Iraq; court, judges to follow

BASRA, Iraq -- With a flourish, the British military on Monday opened the first functioning prison in postwar southern Iraq, a new high-security home for people picked up by U.S.-led occupation forces on suspicion they killed, raped or robbed in the chaotic wake of the war.

British Gen. Peter Wall snipped a blood-red ribbon strung across the main entrance to the smartly appointed slammer before a small group of media, sending a message to an occupied country angered by a crime wave that has forced the U.S.-led invasion force into becoming big-city cops in combat boots and camouflage.

The prison's debut -- the building was earlier used as a prison under Saddam as well -- is to be accompanied this week by the opening of courts presided over by a slate of appointed judges, Wall said. "It's important to have a place to put these people before the courts are open."

Suspect in reporter's murder brought to court

MULTAN, Pakistan -- An Islamic militant suspected in the kidnapping of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was brought before a judge Monday and informed he had been sentenced to death for the killings of six minority Shiite Muslims.

Qari Abdul Hai, the alleged leader of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militant group, was convicted in absentia for those crimes in 1998. Hai is also suspected of helping plan the kidnapping of Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter, but has not yet been charged in that case.

Four Islamic militants were convicted last year of involvement in the kidnap-slaying of Pearl. One defendant, British-born Islamic militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, was sentenced to death, and the other three were given life sentences. All four have filed appeals.-- From wire reports