World Scene

AUSTRALIA

Indian doctor freed after terror link error

BRISBANE — An Indian doctor was freed from custody after Australia’s chief prosecutor said yesterday that a charge linking him to failed terrorist bombings in Britain was a mistake.

Prosecutors withdrew the charge against Dr. Mohamed Haneef in the Brisbane Magistrates Court after a review of the evidence by the federal Director of Public Prosecutions Damian Bugg found that his office should never have recommended it.

The government responded by saying Dr. Haneef, 27, will be freed from custody while Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews considers whether to change his decision to revoke the doctor’s visa.

Dr. Haneef has been in custody since July 2, when he was arrested at Brisbane International Airport as he was about to fly to India.

RUSSIA

Gorbachev says U.S. sowing world disorder

MOSCOW — Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev yesterday criticized the United States, and President Bush in particular, for sowing disorder across the world by seeking to build an empire.

Mr. Gorbachev, who presided over the breakup of the Soviet Union, said Washington sought to build an empire after the Cold War ended but failed to understand the changing world.

“The Americans then gave birth to the idea of a new empire, world leadership by a single power, and what followed?” Mr. Gorbachev asked reporters at a press conference in Moscow.

“What has followed are unilateral actions, what has followed are wars, what has followed is ignoring the U.N. Security Council, ignoring international law and ignoring the will of the people, even the American people.”

RUSSIA

Court orders payment to Chechen victims’ kin

BRUSSELS — The European Court of Human Rights ordered the Russian government to pay damages of $196,000 to the family members of 11 Chechen civilians killed by Russian soldiers in 2000.

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