World Watch

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The Worst Week Yet?
IRAQ Coalition forces suffered more fatalities, 34, than in any single week since the end of the war — and the U.S. learned it will have to do without help from Iraq's northern neighbor when Turkey announced it would not send troop reinforcements. The International Committee of the Red Cross also stepped back, announcing the temporary closure of its offices in Baghdad and the southern city of Basra amid security fears.

Six U.S. soldiers were killed when a Black Hawk helicopter was downed, apparently by a rocket-propelled grenade, near Tikrit on Friday, mirroring the felling of a Chinook helicopter near Fallujah at the start of the week that killed 16. Poland suffered its first combat loss in Iraq when an army major was hit by a sniper near Karbala.

In a blow to American hopes of sharing more of the peacekeeping

A Wrenching Case U.K. Britons were riveted by the trial in London of Soham school caretaker Ian Huntley, who denied murdering 10-year-old schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman but pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice; prosecutors suggested he would admit the girls died in his house. Huntley's ex-girlfriend, Maxine Carr, denied charges of assisting an offender and conspiracy. The two girls disappeared last August, while walking in the village of Soham, in eastern England. The discovery of their bodies 13 days later in a remote woodland ditch provoked a national outpouring of sympathy and grief. PA

burden, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell that Ankara was "re-evaluating" its offer of troops in light of vehement opposition to the idea from Iraqis and from Baghdad's interim governing council. Privately, Turkish officials said preparations for the deployment of 10,000 soldiers — requested by Washington and approved by the Turkish parliament last month — had been halted. — By Andrew Purvis

Not There Yet
E.U. In a series of monitoring reports, the European Commission cautioned the 10 countries hoping to join the E.U. next May that they could face sanctions if they fail to speed progress in meeting membership conditions. The Commission also warned Ankara that the absence of a settlement for Cyprus "could become a serious obstacle" to Turkey's hopes of starting talks on E.U. entry in 2005.

Flawed Result
GEORGIA Thousands of protesters gathered in the capital, Tbilisi, in support of opposition groups claiming that parliamentary elections in the former Soviet republic were rigged by President Eduard Shevardnadze's government. Interim results had a pro-Shevardnadze bloc vying for the lead with a regional grouping allied to the government, despite exit polls that showed popular support for the radical opposition. International observers claimed the election was marred by serious irregularities.

A Credible Threat
SAUDI ARABIA Just a day after the U.S. closed its diplomatic missions citing credible evidence of an imminent terror attack, at least one powerful explosion wracked a residential compound in west Riyadh at midnight on Saturday. There were conflicting reports of casualties; many children were among the victims. Government officials blamed al-Qaeda and said the attackers exchanged fire with security guards at the compound, which housed Saudi workers and foreigners, but few Westerners. The attack came nearly six months after a suicide bombing in Riyadh killed 35 people and prompted authorities to start to crack down on suspected militants, and a month after Western governments issued warnings advising against travel to the kingdom. At the time, Saudi officials reacted angrily to the alerts.

Called to Account
RWANDA Four former cabinet members went on trial at a U.N. tribunal in Tanzania. The four, who are accused of masterminding the 1994 inter-ethnic violence that resulted in the killing of about 800,000 people, denied nine charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.

Sudden Crisis
SRI LANKA President Chandrika Kumaratunga sparked a political crisis by abruptly sacking three ministers, suspending Parliament and imposing a state of emergency — which she lifted two days later — while Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was on a trip to Washington, D.C. Kumaratunga denied she was trying to grab power for its own sake, accusing Wickremesinghe of endangering national security through "willful neglect" of the military and granting too many concessions to Tamil Tiger rebels in peace negotiations.