Canada

TORONTO — The government proposed on Tuesday to allow women to obtain the "morning after" birth-control pill without a prescription at any pharmacy in Canada. The proposal needs to go through a review by Health Canada, the chief medical regulatory agency, but it is expected to win final approval in the next few months.

Egypt

CAIRO — A court on Tuesday ordered the release of one of the assassins of President Anwar Sadat, saying he had completed his sentence, his attorney and a court official said. Tarek el-Zomor, 45, should have been released in October 2003, after serving 22 years for his part in plotting the October 1981 assassination of Sadat, a court official quoted the judge as saying.

Honduras

SAN PEDRO SULA — Survivors of a prison fire that officials blamed on a short-circuit claimed Tuesday that the inferno that killed more than 100 gang members was intentionally set by fellow inmates. A similar fire that broke out a year ago during clashes at the nearby La Ceiba prison killed 70 gang members. As in Monday's fire, last year's blaze burned only a cellblock housing the gangs.

England

LONDON — Anti-war protesters wore black hoods and chanted "Bush go home" outside a hotel where former President George Bush was attending a fund-raising dinner Tuesday for his son's re-election campaign. About 200 demonstrators from the Stop the War Coalition action group took part in the protest at the Landmark Hotel in central London, which was heavily guarded by police.

France

PARIS — President Jacques Chirac said Tuesday that human rights must be respected in the fight against terrorism, an apparent reference to U.S. military abuses of prisoners in Iraq. Terrorism and human rights are among topics, including the global economy and Mideast peace, that Chirac wants to discuss at a summit next month in the United States of leaders from the world's major industrialized nations.

Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE — Thousands of demonstrators called for the return of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide during a Flag Day rally Tuesday that turned violent, leaving at least one man dead. Waving flags and carrying umbrellas bearing Aristide's smiling face, the demonstrators marched from the pro-Aristide stronghold of Belair toward the National Palace, just blocks away from a cathedral where interim President Boniface Alexandre was attending a Mass.

Lebanon

BEIRUT — The leader of the Hezbollah guerrilla group on Tuesday accused U.S. forces of desecrating holy shrines in Iraq, and called on Muslims to defend the sanctities in the Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala with their lives. "By attacking holy sites, they are attacking all Muslims and all Shiites worldwide," Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said of the U.S. soldiers fighting militiamen of the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Najaf and Karbala.

Nigeria

LAGOS — Nigeria's president declared a state of emergency in a troubled central state on Tuesday, invoking sweeping powers in a bid to halt religious and ethnic bloodletting that he said posed a "great threat" to national unity. The declaration came amid reports of new violence by suspected Muslim militants against four predominantly Christian villages in Plateau state, wracked for months by cycles of revenge raids. Survivors of Tuesday's attacks spoke of gunmen opening fire on fleeing civilians and burning homes.

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Russia

MOSCOW — Survivors marked the 50th anniversary of a revolt in a Stalin-era prison camp Tuesday, recalling how troops crushed the rebellion with tanks and machine guns — and urging society to face up to Soviet atrocities. The Kremlin sent in soldiers to suppress the 40-day rebellion in the Kengir camp in the then-Soviet republic of Kazakhstan in 1954. According to prisoner accounts, up to 600 people were killed and many more injured, although official statistics acknowledged only several dozen victims.

Vatican City

VATICAN CITY — Pope John Paul II turned 84 Tuesday, beaming as well-wishers sang "Happy Birthday" and thanking God for the "gift of life." The frail pontiff insisted on keeping up his regular busy schedule but set aside time for a birthday lunch and cake with his closest aides.

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