EASTERN EUROPE

KOSOVO’S PRIME MINISTER RESIGNS

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro – Kosovo’s prime minister resigned yesterday with plans to surrender to a U.N. court which he said has indicted him for alleged war crimes. But he insisted he was innocent of the charges. Ramush Haradinaj, who was in office for three months, said he would leave today for The Hague, Netherlands, where the tribunal is based.

Mr. Haradinaj said his actions as an ethnic Albanian rebel commander during the 1989-99 war against Serb forces were consistent with international law.

– Associated Press

SOUTH AMERICA

BOLIVIAN LAWMAKERS REJECT PRESIDENT’S OFFER TO RESIGN

Bolivian lawmakers yesterday rejected a resignation offer by President Mesa, granting critical support to his embattled government after days of escalating street protests prompted him to submit an offer to step down. In a unanimous vote, congressmen threw their support behind the president, a day after he tendered his resignation, saying the country was becoming ungovernable amid street protests over his political and economic policies. Thousands of Mr. Mesa’s supporters thronged outside Congress in downtown La Paz, many waving Bolivian flags, cheering the late night vote on Mr. Mesa’s bold gamble that Congress would reject his resignation offer and grant him new political support.

– Associated Press

MIDDLE EAST

TEST RESULTS: KING TUT DID NOT DIE VIOLENT DEATH

CAIRO, Egypt – King Tut wasn’t murdered by a blow to the head, nor was his chest crushed in an accident. But after ruling out those longtime theories, the most revealing tests ever performed on the boy pharaoh’s mummy didn’t solve the mystery of how he died. The results of the high-tech CT scan released yesterday raised one new possibility: It suggested that just days before his death, Tut might have badly broken his left thigh, puncturing the skin – an injury that could have caused a dangerous infection. But not everyone on the Egyptian-led team that pored over 1,700 CT images of Tut’s body taken two months ago agreed with that theory. Some said the fracture could have occurred from mishandling when the mummy was discovered in 1922 in Luxor’s Valley of the Kings.

The head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, said the study allowed him to rule out violent death, but left him with no idea how Tut died. He said further tests would try to determine if Tut died from natural causes, or perhaps was poisoned, but he stressed it was unlikely they would find an answer.

Still the CT results provided the most revealing insight yet into the life of ancient Egypt’s most famous king, who ruled 3,300 years ago. Tutankhamun was a well-fed, healthy, yet slightly built 19-year-old, standing 5 feet, 6 inches tall, at the time of his death, the study suggested. It was the first time his age has been established.

– Associated Press

EAST ASIA

CHINA STEPS UP PRESSURE ON TAIWAN

BEIJING – China unveiled a law yesterday authorizing an attack if Taiwan moves toward formal independence, increasing pressure on the self-ruled island while warning other countries not to interfere. America said Beijing should reconsider.

Taiwan denounced the legislation as a “blank check to invade” and announced war games aimed at repelling an attack.

The proposed anti-secession law, read out for the first time before the ceremonial National People’s Congress, does not specify what actions might invite a Chinese attack. “If possibilities for a peaceful reunification should be completely exhausted, the state shall employ nonpeaceful means and other necessary measures to protect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Wang Zhaoguo, deputy chairman of the Congress’s Standing Committee, told the nearly 3,000 members gathered in the Great Hall of the People.

– Associated Press