World digest 01/19/05

Ukraine court paves way for inauguration

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine's Supreme Court on Tuesday eased the way for Western-leaning reformer Viktor Yushchenko to be inaugurated as president, ruling that election results can be published before it finishes hearing the losing candidate's appeal. Publication in official newspapers of the results that showed Yushchenko winning the Dec. 26 election by about 8 percentage points would give the parliament the right to set an inauguration date -- which Yushchenko aides said could be as soon as Friday. Once the results are published, the Supreme Court would not have a legal basis for rescinding them, lawyers said. Representatives of Viktor Yanukovych, who filed the appeal, denounced the decision as biased.

File shows Hitler relative was gassed by Nazis

VIENNA, Austria -- One of the thousands of victims of the Nazi regime's program to kill mentally ill people was a relative of Adolf Hitler, two historians said Tuesday. The woman, identified only as Aloisia V., was 49 when she was gassed on Dec. 6, 1940, at an institution in the Hartheim castle near the Austrian city of Linz, historian Timothy Ryback said. Ryback, an American who heads the Obersalzberg Institute in Berchtesgaden, Germany, said the details surrounding the woman's death surfaced last week after Obersalzberg archivist Florian Beierl gained access to her medical file. An ink stamp on the file serves as "proof of extermination," Ryback said. The files on Aloisia say she suffered from schizophrenia, depression, delusions and other mental problems.

Iranian judge admits legal error in Nobelist case

TEHRAN, Iran -- In a rare admission of error, Iran's judiciary conceded Tuesday that a Revolutionary Court summons for Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi was illegal and said the matter would be dropped. Ebadi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, defied the Revolutionary Court on Sunday when she refused to obey a summons asking her to appear without giving a reason. On Tuesday, Karimirad admitted the summons was flawed because the reason was not stated. Karimirad said a citizen claimed she insulted him, but that since the complainant had not followed up the matter, "the issue can be ignored."

Muslim pilgrims in Saudi tent city prepare for hajj

MINA, Saudi Arabia -- Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims draped in white streamed into this mammoth tent city for the night to prepare their minds and spirits for today's prayers at Mount Arafat, the central rite of the annual hajj. As the pilgrimage rituals began Tuesday, Saudi authorities took elaborate precautions, deploying 50,000 security personnel to prevent the catastrophes of past years when hundreds have been killed in fires and stampedes. The pilgrimage is required of able-bodied Muslims at least once in a lifetime, if they can afford it.

Nuclear agency wants fresh look at Iranian site

VIENNA, Austria -- The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency is pushing for a fresh look at an Iranian military complex linked by the United States to possible atomic arms research just days after being granted limited access, diplomats said Tuesday. The International Atomic Energy Agency is interested in testing another part of the sprawling Parchin complex just outside Tehran in its search for radiation that could point to such research, the diplomats said. The United States alleges Iran may be testing high-explosive components for nuclear weapons, using an inert core of depleted uranium at Parchin as a dry run for a bomb that would use fissile material.