World Watch

Tabloid Tumble
Piers Morgan, the flamboyant editor of the U.K.'s Daily Mirror, has survived many a scrape during his tabloid career, but the photographs he published two weeks ago purporting to show British soldiers brutally mistreating an Iraqi prisoner in the back of a truck proved Morgan's undoing. Last week the Mirror's publisher conceded the pictures were fake (the paper claims to have been the victim of a hoax), apologized unreservedly to readers and the military, and fired the editor.

Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram told Parliament the pictures were "categorically not taken in Iraq"; the military, having managed to identify the truck, said the vehicle was never there. While the military furiously charged that the Mirror had both endangered soldiers' lives in Iraq and, by inciting Arab hatred against Britain, helped recruit for al-Qaeda, Morgan argued to the end that he had helped expose the fact that serious abuse has taken place. Nearly a week after the pictures were published, a soldier told the Mirror — and later, military police — he had witnessed prisoner beatings, and he repeated the claims on British TV Friday night. Several other soldiers told the Mirror similar stories. Morgan, 39, whose previous scoops included having a reporter infiltrate Buckingham Palace as a footman for two months just before George W. Bush came to stay there, might have gone too far this time — but no one was betting this irrepressible tabloid star would not bounce back. — By Helen Gibson

Stop Press
NORWAY A strike by nearly 3,000 journalists at 84 media companies shut down most of the country's newspapers, including some of the biggest dailies. The walkout

Performance of the week HUSSEIN MALLA/AP Iraqis found something to celebrate last week when the Iraq national soccer team beat Saudi Arabia, 3-1, to qualify for its first-ever Olympic berth. Baghdad's beleaguered residents reveled in their victory, firing tracer rounds and other ammo into the air. For a squad once routinely brutalized by Saddam Hussein's son Uday, the game was for once untainted by terror.

began when pension talks between the national journalists' union and employers broke down.

Revolving Door
POLAND Prime Minister Marek Belka lost a parliamentary vote of confidence just two weeks after taking up the post. Lawmakers now have two weeks to put up an alternative candidate, but few expect a successful consensus to be reached.

Safe Haven
SOUTH AFRICA The government announced it would grant temporary asylum to ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who fled his country at the end of February in the face of an armed revolt. Pretoria also said it would support an investigation into Aristide's claim that he was forced to step down by the U.S. and France as rebels closed in on Port-au-Prince.

Back in Charge
SOUTH KOREA The Constitutional Court reinstated President Roh Moo-Hyun, who was impeached and stripped of his powers in March. Conservative lawmakers in the outgoing government voted to oust Roh on charges of electoral-law violations, incompetence and corruption, but were defeated in parliamentary polls in April by the pro-Roh Uri Party. After being reinstated, Roh apologized for the corruption scandals involving his aides.

Contested Polls
THE PHILIPPINES Challenger Fernando Poe Jr. contested exit polls suggesting that incumbent Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had won the presidential election, and accused Arroyo of electoral fraud.

One For The Road
BRAZIL The government withdrew an expulsion order against New York Times correspondent Larry Rohter. The government said Rohter had apologized for a story he wrote suggesting President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva's drinking habits were a matter of national concern. The Times denied they either apologized or retracted the comment.

MEANWHILE IN BRITAIN ...
Looking for Harder Time
Two prisoners who escaped from an open prison in central England turned up a day later at the doors of a more secure jail 32 km away, asking to serve the rest of their sentences there. The pair wanted to return to the more conventional cells where they had earlier managed to kick their drug habits. Baffled guards let the inmates stay — at least until a hearing set for this week.