Around the world

Time running out for Kosovo pact

Kosovo will unilaterally declare independence within days of a December deadline to wrap up talks if international negotiators fail agree on the status of the disputed province, its ethnic Albanian leaders said Tuesday.

Envoys from the United States, the European Union, and Russia are trying to broker a deal between Kosovo's ethnic Albanians — who want full independence from Serbia — and Serbian officials, who oppose any such move.

With time running out for agreement before the Dec. 10 deadline to end talks, Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku said independence is inevitable.

Serbian leaders have repeatedly rejected Kosovo's moves toward independence, and have promised everything short of military action to keep the province as part of Serbia.

MEXICO

'Queen' displeased by jail conditions

MEXICO CITY — An alleged drug cartel leader whose glamorous ways earned her the nickname "Queen of the Pacific" is complaining that her new digs at a Mexican prison are less than regal — with bad food, and an infestation of bedbugs.

Remaining composed even after more than 30 agents swooped in on her Sept. 28 in a wealthy Mexico City neighborhood, Sandra Avila Beltran, 46, reportedly even charmed police into letting her apply makeup before they videotaped her transfer to a women's jail.

Luis Javier Vaquero, executive secretary of the Mexico City Human Rights Commission, said Tuesday that Avila Beltran phoned the commission to say prison conditions violated her rights.

She said prison authorities prohibited her from having food brought in.

The government news agency Notimex later quoted officials as saying they had fumigated Avila Beltran's cell.

On Friday, a judge ordered Avila Beltran to stand trial on charges of organized crime, money-laundering and conspiracy to traffic drugs.

CZECH REPUBLIC

Brit who rescued Czech kids honored

PRAGUE — A Briton who helped save hundreds of Jewish children from being sent to their deaths in Nazi concentration camps was awarded the Czech Republic's highest military decoration Tuesday.

Sir Nicholas Winton, 98, was awarded the Cross of Merit of the 1st class for saving 669 Czechoslovak children by organizing train transport from Prague to London at the outbreak of World War II.

Eight trains carried the children, most of them Jewish, through Hitler's Germany to Britain in 1939. They were sent to foster parents,.

Winton's story did not emerge until 1988 when his wife found correspondence referring to the prewar events.

SIERRA LEONE

Light sentences for militia leaders

FREETOWN — A U.N.-backed court sentenced two former leaders of a pro-government militia to six and eight years in prison Tuesday for brutalities committed during Sierra Leone's 10-year civil war.

The ruling was a victory for the defense, as the prosecution had asked for 30-year terms.

It also reflected the ambiguity with which Sierra Leone has viewed atrocities committed by a militia that fought rebel movements accused of worse abuses.

Moinina Fofana and Allieu Kondewa were among the leaders of the Civil Defense Forces, which used a network of tribal-based hunters known as the Kamajors to fight various rebel groups during the 1991-2002 war. It was accused of torturing and mutilating civilians.

Kondewa was sentenced to eight years and Fofana to six years. The terms will be counted from when they were taken into custody by the court in May 2003, meaning Fofana could be free in two more years.