CANTERBURY

Archbishops and bishops of the Anglican Church from around the world, gathered for their decennial conference, overwhelmingly voted in favor of a motion condemning homosexuality as incompatible with biblical teaching. Days of passionate debate and demonstrations raised fears of a damaging schism within the church, but a powerful alliance of traditional-minded bishops from Africa and Asia joined conservative evangelicals to crush liberals by a vote of 526 to 70 with 45 abstentions. The Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, called the debate "difficult and painful" but crucially backed the motion, grateful for an unambiguous result. The only solace for gay rights campaigners and liberals was a promise "to listen to the experiences of homosexual people" and the fact that the decision will be non-binding on Anglican churches.

MADRID

Spain's former Prime Minister, Felipe Gonzalez, 56, who has not practiced law for more than 22 years , will personally head the legal team appealing the 10-year sentence passed by the Supreme Court on his former Interior Minister, Jose Barrionuevo and Secretary of State for Security, Rafael Vera. The pair, plus 10 other former Interior Ministry officials, were found guilty of taking part in the kidnap of an innocent businessman mistaken for a Basque terrorist. Gonzalez denies that he and his ministers had anything to do with the "dirty war" waged against Basque separatists by a secret government agency during the 1980s. Failure to win the appeal may jeopardize Gonzalez's chances of becoming President of the European Commission when Jacques Santer's term expires in January 2000.

VENICE

Prosecutor Felice Casson has requested the indictment of 10 people, including Venice Mayor Massimo Cacciari, in connection with the January 1996 fire that destroyed the city's famous opera house, the Teatro alla Fenice. Two electricians are accused of starting the fire to cover up delays in their work that would have cost them high penalties. Casson cited evidence of negligence on the part of Mayor Cacciari (who serves as president of La Fenice), the opera house's superintendent and others. Smoke alarms had been turned off; highly flammable materials were stored throughout the theater; too few security guards were on duty at the time; and the canal adjacent to the theater was being dredged, making it impossible for fire boats to reach the site. Meanwhile, reconstruction has been stalled by an irregularity discovered in the contract bidding process.

ATHENS

Government ministers said that arsonists, eager to make room for real estate development, deliberately started a forest fire that destroyed 100 homes and caused the death of one person on Mount Pendeli, north of Athens. Fire fighters believed they had brought the flames under control after a battle lasting four days, but gale-force winds reignited the fire toward the end of the week. Fires also raged around the site of ancient Olympia. Greece has been plagued by more than 3,000 blazes this summer, with over 162,000 hectares of forest and farmland devastated.

ANKARA

Radical Islamic playwright Vahi Yazar, 34, was sentenced to 24 years in prison for his play, An Enemy of God, which the National Security Court said provoked "hatred by highlighting class [and] religious differences." Four members of the play's cast received 16-year sentences for performing in the play last year in the northern city of Erzurum. Turkey's secular government found the play offensive because it implied that the military was the main obstacle to the establishment of an Islamic state. The country's armed forces brought about the collapse of modern Turkey's first Islamic government last year.

KINSHASA

As Rwandan soldiers and Congolese rebels continued to make military gains in eastern Congo, President Laurent Kabila threatened to retaliate against former ally Rwanda, which he accused of organizing the uprising against his government. "If we do not keep our liberty," he said, "we will win it back by war." The Tutsi-led rebel forces, which had helped topple dictator Mobutu Sese Seko last year, have captured Congo's eastern towns and are approaching the country's third-largest city, Kisangani.

RAMALLAH

After months of foot-dragging, Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat finally named a new cabinet, as had been demanded by reform-minded members of the Palestinian Legislative Council. But Arafat's presentation of the new list elicited boos and hisses from Council members because he retained three ministers accused of corruption in a scathing official report last year. Abdul Jawad Saleh, who was demoted from Agriculture Minister to Minister of State without portfolio, dismissed the shuffle as "a tasteless joke." He and former Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Mikhail-Ashrawi, who was switched from her higher education portfolio to Minister for Tourism, resigned from the cabinet in protest. Reformers threatened to bring a vote of no-confidence against Arafat's government but acknowledged they do not have enough votes to succeed.

TASHKENT

With Taliban Islamic troops closing in on the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif, the last major town outside their control, Russia and Uzbekistan issued a statement vowing to take any measures necessary to ensure the security of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Mazar-e-Sharif is currently held by an Uzbekistan-supported anti-Taliban coalition. Moscow and Tashkent are nervous about the instability in Afghanistan and the possible spread of religious fundamentalism from its restive neighbor.

ULSAN

South Korean national automaker Hyundai fired more than 1,500 laborers, despite a 26,000-strong unionized strike that has crippled company operations since late July. At least 1.5 million workers previously accustomed to lifelong employment security have lost their jobs since South Korea's economic slide forced the government to accept a $58 billion IMF bailout last December. Hyundai had already been able to shed 6,100 employees this year through mandatory retirement.

JAKARTA

A military board investigating the kidnapping of democratic activists prior to the riots that swept the country in May will summon Lieut. General Prabowo Subianto, the son-in-law of former President Suharto and onetime head of the elite special forces. The board is one of three probing possible human rights abuses committed by the once unassailable military. Ten mass graves filled with victims who may have been killed by Indonesian troops fighting insurgents in the early 1990s have been uncovered in Aceh province, in the northern Sumatra region.

SALT LAKE CITY

David Kingston, a member of a Mormon splinter group that practices polygamy, was charged with incest for allegedly taking his 16-year-old niece as his 15th wife in a ceremony that took place last October. Her father, John Daniel Kingston, was also charged with beating the girl for trying to escape from the forced marriage. The girl, who went to the police after the alleged beating, will testify against her uncle and father. Plural marriage was introduced to Utah by the Mormon Church in 1847 but renounced by religious leaders in 1890. Though banned throughout the U.S., polygamy is thought to be practiced by some 25,000 Americans. Authorities are still considering whether they will charge David Kingston with violating that ban.

NEW YORK

The United Nations Security Council condemned the decision by the Iraqi government to suspend cooperation with U.N. weapons inspectors as "totally unacceptable." Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who had brokered an agreement with Baghdad in February to allow Richard Butler and his inspection team to continue their search for nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, called for a new approach in the U.N.'s dealings with Iraq. The Security Council sanction fell short of threatening force.

BOGOTA

Leftist insurgents bade farewell to outgoing President Ernesto Samper by launching an unprecedented wave of guerrilla attacks throughout the country. In the days before Andres Pastrana was sworn in as Samper's successor, a series of coordinated assaults left 125 people dead. During a spectacular raid in the early morning, a unit of more than 500 guerrillas leveled a police base in southeastern Colombia used for fighting the drug trade. One hundred and fifty soldiers and police officers were killed during the fighting and 76 are missing. But Pastrana and the guerrillas have tentatively agreed to hold peace talks.