Briefly world

French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday ordered legislation that would ban women from wearing burqa in public places.

Sarkozy to submit Bill banning veils in France

PARIS: French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday ordered legislation that would ban women from wearing burqa in public places. In seeking to forbid the garment from public view,Sarkozy defied the advice of experts sought by the government who warned that such a broad ban risked contravening Frances Constitution. Sarkozy has repeatedly said that such clothing oppresses women and is not welcome in France. Government spokesman Luc Chatel said after Wednesdays Cabinet meeting,the President decided the government should submit a Bill in May on an overall ban on veils.

North Koreans held in South for alleged assassination plot

SEOUL: Two North Korean spies made their way to South Korea with a mission to assassinate the regimes most high-profile defector,authorities said on Wednesday. Hwang Jang-yop,chief architect of the Norths juche philosophy of self-reliance,was one of North Koreas most powerful officials. He fled the nation 13 years ago in a defection that enraged Kim Jong Il. This week,two North Korean Army majors were arrested on suspicion of plotting to kill the Hwang,the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office said on Wednesday. The two confessed to investigators that they were ordered to report back on Hwangs activities and to prepare to slit the betrayers throat, a senior prosecutor said.

Pope promises to confront sexual abuse crisis

VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI pledged on Wednesday that the Roman Catholic Church would take action to deal with the widening scandal over sexual abuse by priests,making a rare direct public comment on the crisis. During his weekly audience here,Benedict told pilgrims and tourists in St Peters Square that he had met with abuse victims during a recent trip to Malta and had assured them of Church action. I shared their suffering and emotionally prayed with them, the Pope said,describing his visit on Sunday with eight Maltese men who were allegedly molested by priests.

Louisiana oil rig tilts 70 degrees after explosion

NEW ORLEANS: An explosion rocked an offshore oil drilling platform,sending a column of fire into the sky and touching off a frantic search at sea on Wednesday for at least 11 reported missing. Most of the 126 workers on the rig Deepwater Horizon were believed to have escaped safely after the explosion about 10 pm on Tuesday,Coast Guard Senior Chief Petty Officer Mike OBerry said. The rig,more than 80 km southeast of Venice on Louisianas tip,was still burning on Wednesday morning. It was tilting about 70 degrees and threatening to topple into the water.

China pays tribute to its 2,064 quake victims

BEIJING: Bowing their heads in silent tribute,thousands of officials,soldiers and civilians gathered Wednesday in ceremonies across China to mourn the 2,064 victims killed in a devastating quake that hit one week ago in a remote Tibetan region. Conspicuously absent from all the televised ceremonies were Tibetan Buddhist monks. The monks,thousands of helped in rescue operations in the quake zone,said on Wednesday they had been ordered to leave the region.