The world in brief

— QUOTE OF THE DAY “North Korea should clearly and frankly admit and apologize for its wrongdoing over its provocation.” South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, referring to the sinking of the Cheonan warship Article, this page

Stalin statue in Georgia dismantled

TBILISI, Georgia - Authorities in Georgia on Friday tore down a monument to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in his birthplace of Gori to make way for a memorial to the fallen in the Russian-Georgian war of 2008.

Gori is just a few miles from the separatist enclave of South Ossetia, where Russian forces crushed the Georgian army in a brief conflict in August 2008.

Officials say the overnight dismantlement of the towering bronze statue, approved last week by the city’s parliament, was spurred by the appeals of a younger generation who have embraced Western ideals of freedom.

Zviad Khmaladze, chairman of the local legislature, said the monument will be relocated to the town’s Josef Stalin Museum.

Iranians call off aid ship for Gaza

LONDON - The Sunday departure of an Iranian ship carrying aid to the Gaza Strip has been canceled as a result of Israel’s vow to prevent vessels from Iran and Lebanon from reaching the Palestinian enclave, an Iranian official says.

“The Zionist regime has made sending aid to Gaza a political issue,” Hossein Sheikholeslam, head of the Iranian agency to support Palestinians, was cited as saying by the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency late Thursday.

“We don’t want these humanitarian acts to become political; it’s more important that the Gaza blockade gets broken.”

The shipment was planned after nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists, including one who also held U.S.

nationality, were shot dead May 31 when Israeli commandos raided their boat in international waters.

The Turkish vessel was one of six in a flotilla attempting to breach Israel’s 3-year-old blockade of Gaza, the coastal strip ruled by the militant group Hamas.

Gay marriage loses round in Europe

BRUSSELS - European nations do not have to allow same-sex marriage, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled, though homosexual-rights groups claimed a partial victory Friday because the court acknowledged growing agreement that their relationships should be recognized in law.

Seven judges at the European court ruled unanimously that two Austrian men denied permission to wed were not covered by the guarantee of the right to marry enshrined in Europe’s human-rights convention.

The judges acknowledged “an emerging European consensus” that same-sex couples should have legal recognition but said individual states may still decide what form it should take because marriage had “deep-rooted social and cultural connotations which may differ largely from one society to another.”

Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Portugal, Norway and Spain have legalized gay marriage. About a dozen others, including Britain, Germany, France and - since January - Austria, have legal partnerships, which carry much the same status as marriage.

French premier to unions: Buck up

PARIS - France’s Prime Minister Francois Fillon on Friday rebuffed unions angry over plans to raise the retirement age by two years, urging the French to show “courage” and make an unprecedented effort to cut the national debt.

The government said Friday that it is considering freezing public-sector salaries for the next three years, a prospect that prompted unions to slam the door on salary talks with the labor minister in protest.

Unions are energized after nationwide strikes and protests Thursday that sent nearly a million people to the streets to protest President Nicolas Sarkozy’s bid to overhaul a money-losing pension system.

The change includes raising the retirement age from 60 to 62, which would still be among the lowest in Europe.

Fillon said he “understands the worries” of workers, but added, “We must break the spiral of indebtedness. ... We need a bit of courage.”

Front Section, Pages 5 on 06/26/2010

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