WESTERN EUROPE

PAPER THAT PUBLISHED PROPHET DRAWINGS FREE FROM PROSECUTION

COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Denmark’s top prosecutor said yesterday he will not press charges against the newspaper that first published the Prophet Muhammad drawings that triggered deadly protests by Muslims worldwide. The prosecutor’s ruling prompted the Foreign Ministry to upgrade its travel warnings for Muslim countries from Algeria to Malaysia.

“The decision may cause negative reactions to Danes and Danish interests abroad,” the ministry said. “With that background, Danes should be particularly cautious when traveling.”

Director of Public Prosecutions Henning Fode upheld the decision of a regional prosecutor, who said the drawings published in Jyllands-Posten on September 30 did not violate Danish law. Mr. Fode’s decision cannot be appealed. His ruling said the 12 cartoons did not violate bans on racist and blasphemous speech.

– Associated Press

EASTERN EUROPE

INTERNATIONAL FORCES RAID KARADZIC NETWORK

More than 150 E.U. and NATO peacekeepers conducted simultaneous operations against alleged supporters of Radovan Karadzic, who has been indicted on genocide charges by the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported. The raids were conducted at a meat-processing business, a cafe, and a private home, and residents and workers were questioned, the network said, after the international forces received intelligence that the individuals were providing financial assistance to the fugitive former Bosnian Serb leader.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

EAST ASIA

JAPANESE CREATE ROBOT TO CARE FOR ELDERLY

Researchers at a government-funded institute, Riken, say they have built a 5-foot, 200-pound robot that sees, hears, smells, and can carry a person, Agence France Presse reported. “In the future, we would like to develop a capacity to detect a human’s health condition through his breath,” the wire service quoted a research team leader, Toshiharu Mukai, as saying.

Once it is further developed, the machine, named RI-MAN, is intended to care for members of Japan’s rapidly aging population. “We’re hoping that through future study it will eventually be able to care for elderly people or work in rehabilitation,” Mr. Mukai said, according to AFP.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

SOUTH KOREA OPENS IMMIGRATION CHECKPOINTS AT NORTHERN BORDER

PAJU, South Korea – South Korea formally opened new immigration checkpoints yesterday for travelers crossing the heavily fortified border with North Korea, symbolizing Seoul’s hopes for boosting exchanges with its longtime communist foe.

A checkpoint at Paju, just 1.2 miles south of the world’s last Cold War frontier, is a gateway to one of the two roads and adjacent railways that the divided Koreas have reconnected since their leaders held their first-and-only summit in 2000. A second immigration point to the east connects with a tourist spot in North Korea.

Permanent buildings formally opened at both sites yesterday replace temporary structures used at the crossings since they opened several years ago.

“We have already entered the process of becoming a unified community by geographically connecting the South and the North through the roads of peace,” South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok said at the Paju checkpoint, which now includes a cafeteria and shop selling North Korean wine and traditional Korean goods.

– Associated Press

NORTH AMERICA

FOX SAYS MEXICO OIL FIND COULD YIELD 10 BILLION BARRELS OF CRUDE

VERACRUZ, Mexico – President Fox climbed aboard a drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday to formally announce a new deep-water oil discovery he said could eventually yield 10 billion barrels of crude oil.

An exploratory well dubbed Noxal 1 was drilled at a depth of 3,070 feet below the water, and is seeking a depth of 13,125 feet. Government estimates say the find could exceed reserves at the giant offshore field Mexico’s largest oil field, Cantarell, which has seen its production decline but is still expected to yield 1.9 million barrels a day this year.

“With Noxal we will begin a new era of oil exploration in our country,” the president said aboard the “Ocean Worker 6 Britania” platform.

– Associated Press