WESTERN EUROPE

BLAIR RELEASES SECRET MEMO AHEAD OF ELECTIONS

LONDON – In an embarrassing about-face ahead of elections, Prime Minister Blair released a secret memo yesterday warning of the legal consequences of invading Iraq without a second U.N. resolution. Mr. Blair had long refused to publish the March 7, 2003 document from Attorney General Lord Goldsmith, saying it was confidential. Instead, the prime minister had consistently pointed to the written statement Mr. Goldsmith gave to parliament 10 days later, which said the war would be legal without another resolution. Political opponents, who pressured Mr. Blair into releasing the text after it was leaked Wednesday night, said it showed the prime minister had deceived Britain – a charge Mr. Blair denied.

“For the past few days it’s been said that the attorney general advised that it was illegal to go to war,” Mr. Blair told the audience at a British Broadcasting Corp. panel program yesterday. “He didn’t. He advised it was lawful.”

– Associated Press

CROWS MAY BE CAUSING TOADS TO EXPLODE

BERLIN – Why are toads puffing up and spontaneously exploding in northern Europe? It began in a German neighborhood and has spread across the border into Denmark. It’s left onlookers baffled, but one German scientist studying the splattered amphibian remains now has a theory: Hungry crows may be pecking out their livers.

“The crows are clever,” said a Berlin veterinarian who collected and tested specimens at the Hamburg pond, Frank Mutschmann. “They learn quickly from watching other crows how to get the livers.”

So far, more than 1,000 toad corpses have been found at a pond in Hamburg and in Denmark. But the pond water in Hamburg has been tested, and its quality is no better or worse than elsewhere in the city. The remains have been checked for a virus or bacteria, but none has been found. Based on the wounds, Mr. Mutschmann said, it appears that a bird pecks into the toad with its beak between the amphibian’s chest and abdominal cavity, and the toad puffs itself up as a natural defense mechanism. But, because the liver is missing and there’s a hole in the toad’s body, the blood vessels and lungs burst and the other organs ooze out, he said.

– Associated Press

SOUTH AMERICA

RICE SPEAKS OF TYRANNY AT CONFERENCE ON DEMOCRACY

Secretary of State Rice said yesterday that it is the historic duty of democrats “to tell the world that tyranny is a crime of man, not a fact of nature.”

Addressing representatives of 100 nations at a conference on democracy, Ms. Rice said, “Our goal must always be the elimination of tyranny in our world.”

Following stops in Brazil and Colombia, Ms. Rice spoke at a ministerial meeting of the Community of Democracies, which was founded in 2000 to improve democratic governance and to help others to achieve democracy. Promoting democracy has been a recurring them of her five-day tour, with El Salvador the final stop on Friday.

– Associated Press

EAST AFRICA

AFRICAN UNION TO TRIPLE SIZE OF FORCE IN DARFUR

The African Union agreed yesterday to more than triple the size of its peacekeeping force in Sudan’s western Darfur region, where U.N. officials say two years of fighting has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. The AU’s Peace and Security Council approved boosting the force to more than 7,700 from 2,200, including nearly 5,500 troops, 1,600 civilian police, and some 700 military observers, an AU spokesman, Assane Ba, said. AU Peace and Security Commissioner Said Djinnit said the enhanced force would be in place by the end of September. Kenya, Nigeria, and Rwanda have pledged to contribute troops, he said.

– Associated Press