World Scene

SPAIN

Fire strikes Madrid high-rise

MADRID — A raging fire swept through the upper levels of a 32-story office building in downtown Madrid early today, causing no injuries but collapsing the top floors in a shower of flaming debris.

Bright orange flames shot out the sides of the Windsor Building, which is believed to be empty and is near one of Madrid’s main boulevards.

The fire started around 11:30 p.m. yesterday and was still burning out of control about three hours later. At least nine upper stories were on fire and muffled explosions could be heard in the building. City officials were afraid the building might collapse.

RUSSIA

Thousands protest benefits reform

MOSCOW — Tens of thousands of Russians protested across the country yesterday against a law replacing transportation and medical benefits for pensioners with cash payments, but were countered by massive rival demonstrations organized by pro-Kremlin forces.

The Communist-backed protest calling for the government’s ouster was the most widespread in President Vladimir Putin’s five years in power. It was also the first time that pro-Putin groups took to the streets over the reform.

The overhaul, which took effect Jan. 1, replaces cherished benefits such as free transportation for pensioners and other groups with cash payments that many say are sorely inadequate.

IRAN

Fatwa on Rushdie stands, hard-liners say

TEHRAN — Iran’s hard-line Revolutionary Guards declared yesterday that the death sentence passed against British writer Salman Rushdie was irreversible and said Muslims would one day carry it out.

The Guards were marking the anniversary of the 1989 fatwa pronounced against Mr. Rushdie by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who considered his novel “The Satanic Verses” blasphemous.

Iran’s reformist government promised Britain in 1998 that the Islamic republic would not send an assassin to kill Mr. Rushdie. However, hard-line religious authorities say the only person who could rescind the fatwa is Ayatollah Khomeini, who died in 1989.

SAUDI ARABIA

Losing candidates to contest results

RIYADH — Losing candidates in Saudi Arabia’s first regular election said yesterday they would contest the results, and accused the winners of violating electoral law and unfairly claiming support of Islamic clerics.

Candidates challenging the results of Thursday’s landmark municipal elections said the names of the seven winning candidates in the capital, Riyadh, were circulated together on a list — a move they said violated an electoral law forbidding the formation of coalitions. The winners also unfairly claimed they had religious backing, disgruntled candidates said.

RUSSIA

Kissinger meets with Putin

MOSCOW — Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger brought the Kremlin best wishes from the White House yesterday, a week after current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Russia on “the basics of democracy.”

“I’m here for the purpose of strengthening the ties between our leaders and our countries,” Mr. Kissinger, an architect of the Cold War policy of detente towards the Soviet Union, told President Vladimir Putin during a visit to Moscow.

“I’m a good friend of President Bush and a strong supporter of his foreign policy. I know what a good opinion he has of you,” said Mr. Kissinger, 81, adding that he was visiting in a personal capacity.