World Scene

GAZA STRIP

Israel ends offensive, begins pulling out

GAZA CITY — Israeli tanks rumbled out of the Gaza Strip yesterday, ending a massive 16-day offensive that killed at least 100 Palestinians in an attempt to stop rocket fire into the Jewish state.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered the biggest raid into Gaza in the past four years of conflict under pressure to crush militants ahead of a planned withdrawal from the occupied territory by the end of 2005.

It followed the killing of two toddlers in an Israeli town on Sept. 29 by a rocket fired from Gaza.

Witnesses said all 200 tanks and armored vehicles in northern Gaza had withdrawn.

INDONESIA

Cleric charged in terror case

JAKARTA — Prosecutors filed terrorism charges yesterday against cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, which could bring to trial within two weeks the accused leader of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah militant network.

“It has been submitted to the South Jakarta court today,” said Didik Istiyanta, South Jakarta state prosecutor.

The terrorism charges involve a suicide bombing outside the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta in 2003 that killed 12 persons, South Jakarta court official Yunda Nasbi said.

“They’re related to the Marriott case,” he said of the charges, adding that judges would be appointed on Monday.

SUDAN

70,000 deaths estimated in Darfur

GENEVA — The U.N. health agency yesterday estimated at least 70,000 people have died since March from poor conditions in refugee camps in Sudan’s Darfur region and warned that more will die at the same rate unless countries provide more money.

The toll does not include the unknown number of people killed in violence from Arab militiamen that have waged a campaign against African tribal villagers and from a rebellion mounted by tribal groups.

Aid agencies and the United Nations have found it difficult to get an accurate death toll in Darfur because they were unable to get into much of the area for a long time and some areas still are deemed too dangerous.

CAMBODIA

New king concedes fretting over duties

PHNOM PENH — Cambodia’s newly appointed king, Norodom Sihamoni, said yesterday he was “extremely touched” by his selection to lead the nation but also a bit nervous about his lack of experience.

King Sihamoni has long shown more interest in culture, art and dance than politics and was seen as a reluctant heir. But in his first official statement since being named to the throne, he said he could not refuse “this supreme duty” from his father, former King Norodom Sihanouk, to ensure stability and the survival of the monarchy.

BRITAIN

Britain to charge Muslim wanted by U.S.

LONDON — Britain will charge radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri with terrorism offenses, putting U.S. attempts to extradite him on hold.

The outspoken cleric, who has preached in support of Osama bin Laden, is already in British jail after the United States began legal steps to extradite him. The United States has indicted him on 11 counts including having a role in a 1998 hostage-taking in Yemen in which four persons died.

From wire dispatches and staff reports