World Scene

BRITAIN

Fox hunters crash Cherie Blair party

LONDON — About 150 protesters staged a pro-hunting demonstration yesterday outside British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s official country residence, where a party celebrating the 50th birthday of his wife Cherie was under way.

One man, naked but for a mask of Tony Blair, hung a sign backing fox hunting from his hips, while a topless woman impersonating Cherie Blair posed outside the gates of Chequers, the residence northwest of London, with “Blair All” written on her chest.

Mr. Blair’s government has threatened to force a ban on fox hunting through Parliament over objections from the House of Lords.

SUDAN

Opposition member ‘tortured’ to death

KHARTOUM — A member of Sudan’s opposition Islamist Popular Congress has been tortured to death in detention by security forces, a party official said yesterday.

The security services said last week they had arrested 33 members of Hassan al-Turabi’s Popular Congress for plotting sabotage with help from Sudan’s eastern neighbor Eritrea.

“Shamseddin Idriss … died from brain damage and his hand and also his leg was broken,” Mr. al-Turabi’s secretary, Awad Babiker, said. “He was tortured.”

The Interior Ministry said it had no information on the case.

GREECE

Orthodox leader dies in helicopter crash

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