World Briefs: Britain drops plan to reform Lords

Around 50 dissidents were arrested during the July 24 funeral in Havana of acclaimed civil rights leader Oswaldo Paya, winner of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize in 2002. He was killed in a car crash in southern Cuba two days earlier.

The commission, which is outlawed by the government, reported 125 such arrests in July 2010 and 251 in July 2011.

RUSSIA

Cossacks to crack down on migrants in Russia

MOSCOW — A thousand Cossacks, who formed a feared military force in czarist times, will help police patrol the southern Russian region hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, charged with preventing an influx of labor migrants from the nearby Caucasus.

The planned deployment of the Cossacks, announced by the governor of the Krasnodar region, has been harshly criticized in Russia, with some warning that it will lead to a rise in ethnic tensions.

The Cossacks will be unarmed but wear uniforms identifying them as adherents of a military force that still celebrates its pre-Soviet role as a defender of Russia’s borders.

Their mission beginning Sept. 1 will be to deal with migrants whose “behavior is not always legal, not always right,” said Konstantin Perenishko, deputy head of the Kuban Cossack Army.

NEW ZEALAND

Volcano spews ashon North Island

WELLINGTON — A volcano has erupted in New Zealand and planes have been warned of significant ash release.

Volcanic ash fell in areas near Mount Tongariro in central North Island late Monday. GNS Science issued a red aviation code, the highest level, for planes in the region.

The Ministry of Civil Defense and Emergency Management advised nearby residents to stay indoors and to protect their eyes, mouth and nose if they were caught in volcanic ash.

Mount Tongariro is one of three volcanoes inside Tongariro National Park. Monday’s eruption was the mountain’s first in decades.

• From wire dispatches and staff reports