World digest 10/11/03

LAURA JOHNSTON * photos@semissourian.com

Centenary United Methodist Church will host a fall bazaar, beginning at 3 p.m. today. Several fresh flowers and pumpkins will be for sale. Craft items, antiques and other items are also for sale. There will be a cake walk, a silent auction and a dinner, which begins at 5:30 p.m. Proceeds benefit mission projects of the United Methodist Women's organization.

Members of South Korean Cabinet resign

SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korean Cabinet members and top presidential aides submitted their resignations amid a crisis over the leadership of President Roh Moo-hyun, the government said late Friday.

Prime Minister Goh Kun and Cabinet members offered to quit, government spokesman Cho Young-dong told local reporters at a briefing. Goh's office confirmed Cho's remarks.

Roh's approval ratings plummeted after corruption scandals involving his aides.

The resignations come a day after Roh said he would ask South Koreans whether they still have confidence in him.

Roh said Friday that he wanted to get a "pardon" from the people and restore moral strength in his 8-month-old government.

China confirms date for manned space mission

BEIJING -- Setting its sights on the stars, the Chinese government confirmed Friday that it would attempt its first manned space launch next week.

The spacecraft, the Shenzhou 5, will orbit the Earth 14 times before landing, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The launch is scheduled for sometime between Oct. 15 and 17, it said, citing the country's space agency.

The launch would make China the third country to put a human being into space. The former Soviet Union put Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961; the United States sent Alan B. Shepard Jr. up less than a month later.

The government has not announced the identity of the space traveler, and the Xinhua dispatches did not specify how many astronauts, or "taikonauts," the craft would contain.

All would-be taikonauts -- an English nickname based on the Chinese word for space, "taikong" -- have passed "a comprehensive drill," Xinhua said.

Syria's cleric criticizes U.S. plans for sanctions

DAMASCUS, Syria -- Syria's chief Islamic cleric Friday criticized U.S. plans to impose further sanctions against his country, urging the "noble" American people to reject the campaign.

Sheik Ahmad Kuftaro's comments came two days after Congress gave preliminary approval for sanctions to be imposed on Syria.

Wednesday's vote in the House International Relations Committee was a largely symbolic gesture -- but one that could lead to more damaging U.S. measures, Western diplomats said Thursday.

The measure itself will not have much economic impact on Syria. Diplomats estimate U.S.-Syrian trade at $300 million a year, and Syria is already under several U.S. restrictions because Washington considers it a state sponsor of terrorism.

Kuftaro, who holds the title of grand mufti, called on Americans who have opposed the war in Iraq and conflict in the Palestinian territories to reject the U.S. government's bid to impose sanctions on Syria.

Dutch prince gives up claim to throne to marry

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Prince Johan Friso, the son of Queen Beatrix, relinquished his claim to the throne Friday to marry a human rights activist.

Johan Friso, 35, a London-based banker, was second in line for the Dutch throne after his elder brother, Crown Prince Willem Alexander. He would have moved to third place after the expected birth of Willem's child next year.

Johan Friso's decision came as Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende announced his government couldn't support Mabel Wisse Smit as a member of the royal family. Wisse Smit, 35, admitted that she had misled the government when she denied having more than a passing acquaintance with Klaas Bruinsma while she was in college in 1989. Bruinsma was a drug lord who was killed in a gangland liquidation in 1991.

-- From wire reports