World Scene

UKRAINE

Tymoshenko’s government ousted

KIEV | Parliament ousted Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in a no-confidence motion Wednesday that could end a political deadlock that has forced Ukraine to cope with a severe economic crisis without a budget.

Parliament now has 30 days to form a new governing coalition, and it is expected to coalesce around newly elected President Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions. It then would be able to put forward a new prime minister.

After the no-confidence resolution passed with 243 votes in the 450-seat chamber, Mr. Yanukovych met with the heads of Ukraine’s parliamentary factions.

EGYPT

Israeli-Palestinian talks approved

CAIRO | Arab nations gave the green light Wednesday for Palestinians to enter indirect negotiations with Israel for a preliminary four-month period, a decision likely to break the months-long deadlock over resuming Middle East peace talks.

The approval by the gathering of 14 Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo gives Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas the political cover he needs to accept the offer. Mr. Abbas has staunchly rejected direct talks unless Israel calls a complete halt to construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem — and he had been wary of entering even indirect talks without Arab backing.

ITALY

7 held, linked to Iran arms smuggling ring

MILAN | Italy arrested seven people on suspicion of trafficking arms to Iran — two Iranians they suspect are secret agents and five Italians, police said Wednesday.

Italian police worked with authorities in Britain, Romania and Switzerland and made the arrests overnight in several cities.

One of those held was an Iranian journalist accredited with Rome’s foreign press club. All four Iranian suspects, including two who remain at large, are thought to be members of the Iranian secret services, police said.

ISRAEL

Raid called off after Facebook slip

JERUSALEM | Israel’s military has “unfriended” one of its own — after a combat soldier potentially updated Israel’s enemies on Facebook.

The military said Wednesday that a planned raid on a West Bank village was called off after the soldier disclosed its details online. The military said the soldier posted the time and location of the raid on his Facebook page, saying that troops were planning on “cleaning up” the village.

Fellow soldiers reported the leak to military authorities, who canceled the raid, fearing that the information may have reached hostile groups and put troops at risk.

The soldier was court-martialed and sentenced to 10 days in prison. He also was removed from his battalion and combat postings.

NORWAY

Iranian expelled in asylum row

OSLO | Norway on Wednesday expelled an Iranian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move after Iran expelled a Norwegian in protest of Oslo’s granting asylum to a defecting Iranian consul.

Mohammed Reza Heydari left his post and went into hiding in Norway along with his family after a crackdown in Iran in December on anti-government protesters.

The Foreign Ministry said the Norwegian being expelled was a man who had been in the post in Iran since August.

GREECE

Huge wave kills 2 on cruise ship

ATHENS | A 26-foot wave crashed into a cruise ship carrying nearly 2,000 people in the Mediterranean on Wednesday, smashing glass windshields and killing two passengers, according to officials and news reports.

Another six people suffered light injuries, the Greek coast guard said. The victims were identified as a German and an Italian man.

It was not clear late Wednesday exactly where the incident took place. The Greek coast guard said the accident occurred near the French Mediterranean port of Marseille as the Cypriot-owned Louis Majesty was sailing from Barcelona to the Italian city of Genoa with 1,350 passengers and 580 crew members on board.

But the French newspaper Le Figaro said the accident happened off Capo de Begur, off the coast of Spain about 80 miles northeast of Barcelona.

NETHERLANDS

Anti-immigration party gains in vote

AMSTERDAM | Early returns in Dutch local elections Wednesday showed an anti-immigrant, anti-Islam party making big gains in a result seen as a possible foreshadowing of national elections in June.

Wednesday’s voting in 394 cities in theory elects city councils to deal with matters such as parking fees and taxes on dog ownership. But with national elections slated for June 9, Dutch media and politicians are treating the event as a dress rehearsal.

The Freedom Party of prominent anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders was leading handily with a quarter of the votes counted in the medium-sized city of Almere, about 12 miles northeast of Amsterdam. The party is running only in Almere and The Hague, where it is expected to finish second.

The country’s two largest parties, the conservative Christian Democrats and left-leaning Labor, lost ground.

• From wire dispatches and staff reports