MIDDLE EAST

HARIRI FUNERAL TURNS INTO ANTI-SYRIA RALLY

BEIRUT, Lebanon – In an unprecedented outpouring of grief and anger, mourners shouted “Syria Out!” as they crowded Beirut’s streets yesterday to bury Rafik Hariri, their former prime minister. Lebanon’s pro-Syrian president stayed away, warned not to come by Hariri supporters who blame Damascus for his death.

In Syria, government officials were silent as American and U.N. pressure continued to mount. The assassination “angered the international community, and this requires that we shed the light on this heinous, indescribable act,” said French President Chirac, a friend of Hariri’s who flew in to offer condolences.

Late yesterday, Mr. Chirac and his wife accompanied Hariri’s widow, Nazek, to her slain husband’s flower-covered grave at the towering Mohammed al-Amin Mosque, which Hariri had built in downtown Beirut. America’s representative at the funeral, William Burns, an assistant secretary of state, called again on Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon – a further spike in U.S.-Syrian tensions a day after America recalled its ambassador from Damascus.

“Mr. Hariri’s death should give – in fact it must give – renewed impetus to achieving a free, independent, and sovereign Lebanon,” Mr. Burns said after a meeting with Lebanon’s foreign minister. “And what that means is the complete and immediate withdrawal by Syria of all of its forces in Lebanon,” he added.

– Associated Press

IRAQ PRIME MINISTER RACE GOES TO SECRET BALLOT

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Top Shiite politicians failed to reach a consensus yesterday on their nominee for prime minister, shifting the two-man race to a secret ballot and exposing divisions in the winning alliance.

After hours of closed-door meetings, members of the United Iraqi Alliance agreed to hold a secret ballot to choose between Ibrahim Jafari and Ahmad Chalabi, most likely on Friday, said Ali Hashim al-Youshaa, one of the alliance’s leaders.

– Associated Press

TURKISH LEADER DENIES CORRUPTION CHARGES

ANKARA, Turkey – Mesut Yilmaz, the former prime minister of Turkey charged with corruption in a bid-rigging scandal that brought down his government seven years ago, defended himself yesterday before Turkey’s highest court, saying he had nothing to do with the deal and that the allegations were politically motivated.

Mr. Yilmaz, the first former Turkish prime minister to stand trial for alleged abuse of power in a country where corruption is endemic, is accused of rigging the privatization of Turkbank in favor of a media magnate with ties to a mafia boss.

The former prime minister insisted yesterday he was not involved and said the privatization “took place outside of my scope as prime minister.”

The court rejected an earlier request by his lawyer for charges to be dismissed.

– Associated Press

WESTERN EUROPE

GERMAN PATIENTS GET RABIES-INFECTED ORGANS

FRANKFURT, Germany – Three hospital patients in Germany appear to have been infected with rabies through organ transplants and are in critical condition, a medical foundation said yesterday. Three others who received transplants from the same donor, a woman who died of a heart attack late last year, are doing fine, the German Foundation for Organ Transplants said.

The donor showed no rabies symptoms at the time of her death, although a recent examination of her brain showed typical signs of the disease, the group said. How the woman may have contracted rabies was unclear, but the group noted that she had been in India in October.

Although rare in developed countries, rabies kills thousands of people each year in developing nations. The critically ill patients, hospitalized in the cities of Hanover and Marburg, received the donor’s lungs, kidneys, and a pancreas. All showed rabies symptoms, the group said.

A patient in Heidelberg who received the liver, as well as two patients in Mainz who received her corneas, were in good health.

“Something like this has never happened in Germany,” foundation head Guenter Kirste said in a statement. “Unfortunately there is no way to medically rule out such rare infections, despite thorough tests of the donor.”

– Associated Press

SOUTH AMERICA

TROOPS SENT TO AMAZON WHERE NUN WAS KILLED

ANAPU, Brazil – About 2,000 soldiers headed yesterday to a lawless Amazon rainforest region where an American nun was shot to death last weekend amid escalating violence between peasants and loggers vying for the area’s vast natural resource riches.

The troops were sent to restore order hours after thousands of people converged on this remote Amazon town to bury the bullet-riddled body of Dorothy Stang, the 73-year-old nun who was killed trying to defend the jungle where she had lived for decades. As mourners paid their last respects to Stang, a peasant and a former union president were found shot to death in the rural state of Para, where Anapu is located. The soldiers were mobilized by Vice President Jose Alencar, who is also Brazil’s defense minister. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva cut short a visit to Suriname to return home and deal with the conflict. Advocates for poor settlers in the region said the soldiers’ presence will probably calm tensions for now. But they warned the violence in Para could easily spiral out of control again without solid steps to resolve the bitter disputes among settlers, land speculators, loggers and ranchers who hire gunmen to eliminate opponents.

– Associated Press