Around the world

Bomb from WWII clears area of Berlin

BERLIN — Police say a World War II bomb uncovered during construction at the Neues Museum in central Berlin has caused evacuations and traffic jams.

Police would not confirm reports that the apartment of Chancellor Angela Merkel, who lives nearby, needed to be evacuated.

A Berlin police statement says the 220-pound unexploded bomb appears to be a type used by the Russians during the war. Officers evacuated a 985-foot area around the bomb Friday afternoon, disrupting nearby train and streetcar service.

The statement said experts were working to dispose of the bomb Friday evening.

Unexploded bombs from World War II are still found frequently in Germany. Disposing of them sometimes involves precautionary evacuations like Friday's

south africa

Long-dominant party holds healthy lead

PRETORIA — South Africa's long-dominant governing party had a commanding lead across the country Friday as vote counting neared completion, closing in on its goal of winning at least a two-thirds majority of parliament.

But the African National Congress was poised to lose control of the provincial legislature in the Western Cape, the heart of South Africa's wine, fruit and tourism industries. Hostility toward the ANC from that province's mixed-race voters was a reminder that the racial divides of apartheid are not entirely healed.

Final results were expected later Friday or early today. Preliminary results from the nearly 14.5 million ballots counted so far from Wednesday's election showed that Jacob Zuma's African National Congress party was leading the vote with 66.91 percent.

china

Sentencing is Tuesday for Tibetan abbot

BEIJING — The abbot of two convents in a Tibetan region of western China is expected to be sentenced Tuesday on charges of weapons possession and embezzlement, according to his two lawyers. The abbot is believed to be the most senior religious figure put on trial following waves of detentions aimed at suppressing a widespread Tibetan uprising last year.

The trial, which began Tuesday, has caused considerable concern among Tibetans and Chinese human-rights lawyers. The abbot, Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche, 51, is the leader of two convents in the restive area of Ganze in Sichuan province. He also runs a home for the elderly in the city of Kangding. He is considered a tulku by Tibetans and called a living Buddha in Chinese — an especially revered figure who is believed to be the essence of a prominent religious leader.

Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche was detained by security forces on May 18, four days after a protest by more than 80 nuns from his convents. Prosecutors say the police found a pistol and about 130 bullets in his living room, said one of the abbot's lawyers, Jiang Tianyong. The court also charged the abbot with embezzlement after prosecutors accused him of trying to illegally take possession of the home for the elderly.

If convicted on both charges, as is expected, the abbot could be sentenced to 15 years in prison.

sri lanka

War-zone refugees crowd tiny village

PUTTUMATTALAN — Hundreds who fled intense fighting in Sri Lanka's war zone were awaiting evacuation from this tiny coastal village Friday as the U.N. reported that nearly 6,500 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed in the last three months.

Speaking to journalists on a rare visit to the edge of the war zone, civilians told of Tamil Tiger rebels using them as human shields.

Conditions "were terrible as we did not have anything to eat. We thought it's better to flee," said Rajeshwarai, 40, who gave only her first name.

She and other civilians moved with the retreating rebels for months as the advancing army chipped away at the insurgents' territory, trying to end the nation's quarter-century of civil strife.

The rebels promised the civilians protection, Rajeshwarai said. "But they did not keep the promise."

The U.N. estimates that 50,000 people were still trapped in the war zone after more than 100,000 fled earlier this week, spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said Friday. Nearly 1,000 awaited evacuation Friday.

vatican city

Holy See will work with Arab League

The Holy See and the Arab League have agreed to work together to promote peace and justice in the world, the Vatican said Friday, after a meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and the league's secretary-general.

In a separate meeting, Amr Moussa and the Vatican's foreign minister, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, signed a memorandum of understanding between both sides, a Vatican statement said.

The pope travels to the Middle East next month on a Holy Land pilgrimage. Benedict will visit Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories.

czech republic

Denial of Holocaust alleged against Duke

PRAGUE — Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke was detained by police in the Czech Republic on Friday on suspicion of denying the Holocaust.

Police spokesman Jan Mikulovsky said the action was taken because Duke does that in his book "My Awakening," which is punishable by up to three years in Czech prisons.

Duke traveled to the republic to promote the book's Czech translation of the book at the invitation of neo-Nazis.

Mikulovsky declined to give any further details, citing an ongoing investigation.

Duke, a resident of Louisiana, also was to have given lectures over the weekend in Prague and Brno.

venezuela

Chavez opponent goes into hiding

CARACAS — An opponent of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has gone into hiding after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Prosecutors allege that Eduardo Manuitt pocketed government funds a decade ago as governor of central Guarico state.

Lenny Manuitt said Friday that her father is in hiding to "protect his physical integrity." She called the allegations politically motivated.

Eduardo Manuitt broke with Chavez last year after the president's party did not support his daughter to succeed him.