World Scene

NIGERIA

Security breaches fuel coup rumors

LAGOS — Authorities were investigating Nigerian army commanders yesterday in connection with “serious security breaches” that some officers have privately characterized as a plot to overthrow President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Three military officers told the Associated Press that army intelligence officials had interrogated 28 mid-ranking officers in connection with the plot.

GERMANY

Terror suspect likely to be freed

HAMBURG — A judge said yesterday the case against the only September 11 suspect ever convicted may collapse if it goes to a retrial, adding that he will decide next week whether to free Mounir el Motassadeq.

At a hearing to rule on the Moroccan’s request to be released from jail, Judge Ernst-Rainer Schudt pointed to a March appeals court ruling that the suspect failed to get a fair trial the first time.

Motassadeq, 29, won a retrial after appeals judges ruled he was unfairly denied testimony from Ramzi Binalshibh, a Yemeni in secret U.S. custody who is believed to have been the Hamburg cell’s key contact with al Qaeda.

TAIWAN

Rivals get 5 days to agree on recount

TAIPEI — President Chen Shui-bian and opposition leader Lien Chan have five days to agree on terms of a recount for the hotly disputed presidential election, a court ruled yesterday.

A recount could help resolve the political turmoil caused by the March 20 vote.

The court heard a lawsuit filed by Mr. Lien to nullify Mr. Chen’s razor-thin victory after an election-eve shooting slightly wounded the president.

IRAN

U.S. penalizes firms for exporting to Iran

The United States yesterday imposed penalties on 13 firms accused of providing Iran with items banned under the 2000 Iran Nonproliferation Act.

The companies included five Chinese, two Macedonian, two Russian, and one from Belarus, one from North Korea, one from Taiwan and one from the United Arab Emirates.

State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said the penalties were imposed because of “credible information” that the companies had transferred, since Jan. 1, 1999, equipment or technology on the multilateral export control list.