World Scene

CHINA

Church members executed in killings

BEIJING — Three members of an underground Chinese Christian sect have been executed in the killings of 20 followers of a rival group, but their attorneys and families did not hear about it until a week later, an attorney said yesterday.

Xu Shuangfu, founder of the Three Grades of Servants, or Church of Truth, and two other members, Li Maoxing and Wang Jun, were executed last week, Xu’s attorney said.

NATO

3 Balkan states offered partnership

RIGA, Latvia — NATO yesterday offered Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro a “partnership for peace,” a first step toward membership despite unresolved war-crimes concerns.

The 26-member alliance, like the European Union, until now required Serbia and Bosnia to show full cooperation with The Hague war-crimes tribunal on tracking down top indictees still at large before winning closer ties.

Diplomats said the invitation was made after a change of heart by the United States, Britain and the Netherlands, which had been among those taking the strictest line on Serbia.

SOUTH KOREA

Total troop pullout planned next year

SEOUL — South Korea’s government decided today to pull all of its roughly 2,300 troops out of Iraq by the end of next year, the ruling Uri party said.

“The government reported to the Uri party that it will draw up a plan to terminate the mission … by the end of June 2007 and wrap up the mission by the end of 2007,” party spokesman Noh Woong-rae told Agence France-Presse.

EUROPEAN UNION

Suspension urged on Turkey talks

BRUSSELS — The European Commission dealt a sharp blow yesterday to Turkey’s hopes of joining the European Union, recommending a partial suspension of entry talks after Ankara refused to open its ports to Cyprus.

The EU executive proposed freezing eight of the 35 policy areas or “chapters” into which the negotiations are divided and said no chapter should be concluded until the Cyprus trade dispute was resolved.

EU foreign ministers will decide whether to back the recommendation on Dec. 11. EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said Turkey could score “a golden goal” by complying before the ministers meet.

HUNGARY

President blocks bill on passenger data

BUDAPEST — President Laszlo Solyom yesterday blocked implementation in Hungary of an agreement between the European Union and United States on the exchange of air passenger data.

Mr. Solyom sent a draft law enshrining the deal back to parliament, saying it did not protect travelers’ rights.

FRANCE

Sarkozy announces presidential bid

PARIS — Confirming the worst-kept secret in France, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has announced he will seek the presidential nomination of his ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party, a contest he is expected to win comfortably.

In an interview with regional newspapers leaked on the Web site of the Paris daily Liberation yesterday, Mr. Sarkozy said he would resign his ministerial post before the April vote if the UMP picked him as its candidate at a congress on Jan. 14.

From wire dispatches and staff reports