WESTERN EUROPE

BLAIR SAYS STRONG ALLIANCE WITH AMERICA IS ESSENTIAL

Tony Blair, the British prime minister, told a joint sitting of the Australian Parliament that a strong alliance with America is essential and that to isolate America from the rest of the world is “madness,” according to an AFP report. To help make the world a safer place, it requires America to engage in an “active foreign policy of engagement, not isolation,” he said.

“This alliance does not end with, but it does begin with America,” he said. “For us in Europe and for [Australia], this alliance is central. And I want to speak plainly here. I do not always agree with the U.S.”

But Mr. Blair conceded that Americans were not the easiest allies. “Sometimes they can be difficult friends to have,” he said. “But the strain of, frankly, anti-American feeling in parts of European politics is madness when set against the long-term interests of the world we believe in.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

MIDDLE EAST

ISRAELI COUPLE SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR MAKING COMPUTER VIRUS

An Israeli woman was sentenced yesterday to four years in prison, and her husband to two years, after they were convicted of making a computer virus. Ruth and Michael Haephrati were also ordered to pay their victims $427,000 in compensation, Reuters reported. Their “trojan horse” program was used by Israeli companies to eavesdrop on the computer activities of their competitors.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

EASTERN EUROPE

MAN WHO SLASHED WORSHIPPERS AT SYNAGOGUE IS CONVICTED

A man who slashed worshippers at a Moscow synagogue with a knife, injuring eight before the rabbi and his son wrestled him to the ground, has been sentenced to 13 years in jail, the BBC reported. Alexander Koptsev was found guilty of attempted murder for the incident on January 11.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun