World Scene

VATICAN

John Paul’s aide urges quick sainthood

ROME — Pope John Paul II’s closest aide said yesterday that he hoped the late pontiff would be made a saint during World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany, next month.

“Everything is possible, but I don’t know if it would be opportune,” Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz told the Associated Press.

“It would be wonderful for a German pope to canonize a Polish pope in Cologne,” he said.

BRAZIL

Bribery scandal hits Lula’s party

SAO PAULO — The head of Brazil’s ruling Workers’ Party resigned yesterday amid a snowballing political scandal that is likely to hurt President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s re-election chances next year.

The worst political crisis in Brazil at least since Mr. Lula da Silva took over in January 2003 involves accusations that the president’s Workers’ Party bribed lawmakers for their support.

Brazilian magazines have published reports over the past week saying Workers’ Party head Jose Genoino co-signed two loans that also had the signature of Marcos Valerio, an advertising executive whose firm does a large amount of government business. Mr. Valerio has been accused of operating a bribes-for-votes scheme.

FRANCE

Writer remembered for ’new novel’ style

PARIS — Nobel laureate Claude Simon, a pioneer of the experimental “new novel” style of the 1960s, has died. He was 91.

Mr. Simon died Wednesday and was buried yesterday in Paris, France’s Culture Ministry said.

The Swedish Academy that awarded Mr. Simon the 1985 Nobel Prize in literature cited the novel “Les Georgiques” (“The Georgics”) as perhaps his most important work. The 1981 novel depicts Mr. Simon’s experience with the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War.

The “new novel” style dispensed with such literary norms as plot and character development.

PHILIPPINES

Bishops debate support for president

MANILA — Catholic bishops meeting over the weekend are deciding whether to join calls for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to resign.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines — a politically influential body in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines — is expected to issue a statement today.

Mrs. Arroyo, whose term runs until 2010, faces charges she tried to influence the vote-count in last year’s presidential election and that members of her family took kickbacks from illegal gambling.

IRAQ

British memo outlines troop withdrawal plans

LONDON — A leaked document from Britain’s Defense Ministry says the British and U.S. governments are planning to reduce their troop levels in Iraq by more than half by mid-2006, the Mail on Sunday newspaper reported.

The memo, reportedly written by Defense Minister John Reid, said Britain would reduce its troop numbers to 3,000 from 8,500 by the middle of next year.

The memo said Washington planned to cut its forces to 66,000 from about 140,000 by early 2006, the newspaper reported.

From wire dispatches and staff reports