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A Mother's Love
FRANCE Few would condemn a mother for relieving her child's suffering — but police in Berck-sur-Mer may reluctantly do just that. Last Wednesday officials launched homicide inquiries after Marie Humbert injected barbiturates into the IV drip of her severely handicapped son, Vincent; he died Friday.

Left blind, paralyzed and mute after a 2000 auto accident, the mentally sound Vincent used movement in his thumb to communicate his physical and emotional agony over his "locked-in" condition. In a November letter to President Jacques Chirac, he asked that his mother be allowed to help him end his torment without risking prosecution under French laws prohibiting assisted suicide. He repeated that plea in a book, I Ask You for the Right to Die.

Though police say Humbert may face homicide charges, Justice Minister Dominique Perben urged "the largest degree of humanity be applied" in the case. The ordeal sparked new calls

MEANWHILE IN MANILA ... Affairs of the Heart Filipinos deluged a "report a mistress" campaign with e-mails and text messages detailing the alleged extramarital activities of government officials, sending 500 messages in its first day. A citizens' group launched the campaign to stop officials from spending government money on illicit dalliances. LITO C. UYAN/CORBIS

to legalize assisted suicide in France; 88% favor such a move. It's legal in Switzerland, and in certain cases in Belgium and the Netherlands. — By Bruce Crumley

Scandalous
BELGIUM European Commission President Romano Prodi fended off calls for high-level resignations over the misuse of funds by Eurostat, the E.U.'s statistical office. But his defiant stand did little to convince doubters of the Commission's ability to account cleanly for its €94 billion annual budget.

Try Again
SWEDEN Police investigating the stabbing murder of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh released suspect Per Olof Svensson and cleared him of involvement in the attack. A new suspect, Mijailo Mijailovic, was taken into custody. Mijailovic was convicted in 1997 for repeatedly stabbing his father, who survived.

Nuclear Fallout
IRAN U.N. nuclear experts discovered traces of weapons-grade uranium at a site west of the capital, Tehran, in what would be the second such find since the summer, diplomats said. But Western officials say the discovery does not prove Iran's nuclear intentions, as it is possible that the radioactive traces are the result of contamination. "We're not any further along," one told TIME.

It's a Crime
SOUTH AFRICA A government inquiry into attacks on white farmers concluded that most were criminal, not racial, acts. The inquiry was launched in 2001 after a spate of violent assaults on white landowners raised fears of a Zimbabwe-style land grab. Although nearly 1,500 white farmers have been murdered since 1991, the inquiry revealed that only 2% of the attacks were racially or politically motivated.

Stoning Overturned
NIGERIA A woman convicted for adultery and sentenced to death by stoning under Shari'a law won her second appeal at a court in the northern state of Katsina. The ruling brought relief to President Olusegun Obesanjo, who was under pressure from Western governments and the E.U. to stop the sentence being carried out. Amina Lawal would have been the first person to be stoned to death since Shari'a law was adopted by 12 predominantly Muslim northern states in 1999.

Fleeing to Freedom
COLOMBIA Briton Matthew Scott emerged safe from the jungle 12 days after escaping armed kidnappers who took him and seven other foreigners hostage on Sept. 12. Scott,19, who evaded his captors by leaping down a ravine, was found by Indian tribespeople. The government has blamed one of the rebel groups operating in the area for the kidnapping.

The Big Thaw
CANADA Scientists from the University of Alaska and Quebec's Laval University announced that the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf — the largest in the Arctic — has broken up. The researchers said this was proof the process of climate change is accelerating in the Arctic. The ice shelf used to dam the mouth of the Disraeli Fjord, creating a large freshwater lake that has now drained away, wiping out a rare microbial ecosystem.