World Watch

Riot Acts
SERBIA Dozens were injured in Belgrade riots following the arrest of war-crimes suspect Veselin Sljivancanin, the Yugoslav army colonel indicted for the slaughter of more than 200 prisoners of war in the Croatian city of Vukovar in 1991. Sljivancanin, 50, was arrested by Serbian police in his Belgrade home after spending almost eight years as a fugitive from the Hague-based U.N. war-crimes tribunal. He was one of the first people indicted, and one of the last major war-crimes suspects still at large. The arrest triggered violent protests by hard-line nationalists who tried to prevent the police from taking him into custody. When police broke into his apartment, they were attacked by a mob of several hundred protesters, who were than dispersed by tear gas and shock grenades. "Sljivancanin himself offered no resistance," said Serbian Police Minister Dusan Mihajlovic. — By Dejan Anastasijevic/Belgrade

Judging the Future
U.K. As part of a Cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister Tony Blair announced radical proposals that would increase the judiciary's independence from politicians. The measures include establishing an independent body to

Unguarded Moments DAVID JOSEK/AP Czech President Klaus with the Castle Guard When Vaclav Havel became Czechoslovakia's President in late 1989, one of his stated priorities was to overhaul the drab, Communist-era livery of the Castle Guard, the ceremonial troops at Prague Castle. "The green uniforms and plastic ties on a rubber band didn't give the country a good image," says Ladislav Spacek, Havel's former spokesman. Today, the soldiers wear fetching grey-and-blue uniforms, complete with tassels and shoulder braids in the colors of the Czech flag, and their changing-of-the-guard ceremonies attract scores of tourists. But last week the unit was once again a source of national embarrassment, following revelations that nine soldiers stripped for a porn website and two others face criminal charges for posing as police and shaking down prostitutes. President Václav Klaus ordered the offenders punished, but critics say that's not enough. The Castle Guard has a long history of controversy and criminal misconduct. In 2000, police charged 10 soldiers with hazing new conscripts and in February, the unit's former psychologist received a one-year suspended sentence for raping a conscript. Klaus' office said it will push ahead with plans to professionalize the unit, which is still largely made up of conscripts. Petr Necas, a prominent opposition M.P., has a more radical solution: disband the unit and build it anew — a real changing of the guard. — By Jan Stojaspal/Prague

recommend new judges and the creation of a U.S.-style Supreme Court to replace the Law Lords as the highest court. The 1,400-year-old post of Lord Chancellor — who is not only a legislator in the House of Lords, but a Cabinet minister and head of the judiciary — will be abolished and its responsibilities transferred to a new Department of Constitutional Affairs, which will also be responsible for Scotland and Wales. In the reshuffle, which followed the resignation of Health Secretary Alan Milburn, the number of Cabinet posts was reduced from 23 to 21.

Rocky Road to Peace
AFRICA Tensions remained high in both Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as peace talks between the Liberian government and rebels resumed in Ghana and U.N. peacekeepers failed to halt fighting in the eastern Ituri region of Congo. The Liberian talks had started a week previously but stalled as rebel troops attacked Monrovia, and a U.N.-backed court in Sierra Leone indicted President Charles Taylor for war crimes. And in Congo, tribal fighting and massacres of civilians continued a week after a French-led, U.N.-backed force began peacekeeping duties, and as a U.N. Security Council delegation visited the regional capital, Bunia. The intervention force will reach its full operational strength of 1,400 by the end of July. Aid organizations called for the troops' mandate to be extended. Currently, while soldiers are allowed to use force against the tribal militia to protect civilians, they are not allowed to operate outside Bunia.

Rebels Regroup
PERU Hostages were released unharmed after guerrillas from the Shining Path rebel group grabbed 71 workers laying a gas pipeline in a remote jungle area southeast of Lima. The hostages said that a ransom had been paid, which local press reports put between $200,000 and $900,000. However the government and company officials denied giving the rebels any money. The kidnapping raised fears that the rebels are regrouping after a decade-long lull.

Temper Fidel
CUBA Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl led hundreds of thousands of demonstrators outside the Spanish and Italian embassies to protest the European Union's decision to review policy toward the country because of human-rights concerns. Protesters held signs emblazoned with DOWN WITH FASCISM! and LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTION! Castro said the change in European policy reflects an alignment with U.S. efforts to isolate the island.

Meanwhile In Egypt ...
Matrix Unloaded
Censors have banned The Matrix Reloaded on religious grounds and for featuring excessive violence. They described it as raising controversial issues about human creation and said in a statement that "screening the movie may cause troubles and harm social peace." The censors did, however, think the special effects were "fabulous."