World Scene

RUSSIA

Local Forbes editor fatally shot

MOSCOW — Paul Klebnikov, the editor of Forbes Magazine’s Russian edition and author of a book about tycoon Boris Berezovsky, was fatally shot late yesterday near his Moscow office.

Forbes started its Russian-language edition in April. Mr. Klebnikov, U.S.-born of Russian heritage, previously had been a senior editor with the U.S.-based Forbes.

In May, the magazine attracted wide attention by publishing a list of Russia’s wealthiest people, claiming that Moscow had more billionaires who worked there or amassed their fortunes there than any other city in the world.

COLOMBIA

Cocaine trafficker caught in Cuba

BOGOTA — One of Colombia’s most wanted cocaine traffickers, Luis Hernando Gomez Bustamante, has been arrested in Cuba, Colombia’s top police official said yesterday.

Gomez Bustamante, one of the heads of the Norte del Valle drug gang, is wanted for extradition to the United States.

Citing Cuban sources, police Gen. Jorge Daniel Castro said Gomez Bustamante entered the island using a forged Venezuelan passport and was captured July 2. He said Colombian authorities were working to extradite him.

EGYPT

Cabinet resigns, new leader named

CAIRO — Egypt’s prime minister and entire Cabinet resigned yesterday as President Hosni Mubarak began an expected major reshuffle of his government.

State-run television broke into its regular programming to report that Mr. Mubarak named Ahmed Nazief, 52, the former state minister for communications and information, to replace Atef Obeid, Egypt’s prime minister of the past four years.

The resignations of Mr. Obeid and 32 ministers were announced after an emergency Cabinet meeting, marking the first reshuffle since July 2002.

FRANCE

Parliament bans human cloning

PARIS — France banned human cloning yesterday, calling it a crime against the human race, but suspended a ban on stem cell research on human embryos for five years.

The Senate vote overnight ended almost three years of work intended to update three 1994 laws on bioethics.

The new law, which underwent many changes during its passage, makes human cloning punishable by 30 years in prison and a fine of $9.28 million.

IRAN

Kuwait seizes 3 fishing boats

TEHRAN — Kuwait has seized three Iranian fishing boats after they strayed into its waters in the latest in a string of incidents involving Iran and its Persian Gulf neighbors, Iranian state television said yesterday.

The boats’ seizure came two weeks after Iran captured and held three British naval vessels and their eight crew members for three days.

INDIA

11 get life terms for Bombay blasts

BOMBAY — An Indian court sentenced 11 persons, including a Pakistani national, to life imprisonment yesterday in connection with a series of bomb blasts that rocked Bombay, six years ago.

The 11 accused were charged with murder and damaging railway property in a series of explosions in local trains and rail platforms that killed four persons and injured 30 in 1998.