The world in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I’m a royalist. I love the royal family. I came unannounced.”

Tony Appleton, a town crier from Romford, England, acknowledging that he had no official royal role when he marked the birth of the new prince by belting out an old-timey proclamation while dressed in costume outside St. Mary’s Hospital in London. Article, this page

9 police among 14 dead in Iraq attacks

BAGHDAD - Insurgents assaulted a police headquarters in northern Iraq early Wednesday, killing nine policemen as part of a series of attacks that left at least 14 dead as the country grapples with a growing surge of violence.

The attack took place in the town of Bashmaya outside the city of Mosul, which has been one of the major flash points in a wave of bloodshed that has washed over the country since April and left more than 3,000 people dead. The scale of the violence is intensifying fears of a return to the widespread sectarian killing that pushed the country to the brink of civil war after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

A police official said nine policemen were killed and two wounded in the initial attack. An ambulance rushing to the scene was hit by a roadside bomb, wounding the driver and his assistant, the official said.

A medical official confirmed the casualty figures. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to talk to the media.

Insurgents this year have regularly attacked security forces in Mosul, a longtime militant stronghold.

Irish abortion angst predicted to persist

DUBLIN - Ireland’s justice minister declared Wednesday that the country must end the “great cruelty” that requires women by law to give birth to infants who are the products of rape or have fatal genetic defects, as the head of state considered whether to sign the predominantly Catholic country’s first-ever bill on abortion.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter predicted that legislators - fresh from months of grueling debate over the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill - would be forced to face the question again, because the Irish public wants wider access to abortion for the most difficult cases.

The bill, overwhelmingly passed by both houses of the Irish parliament this month, permits abortions but only in cases where doctors deem the woman’s life at risk from continued pregnancy.

President Michael Higgins received the bill Wednesday and has one week to decide whether to sign it into law or refer it to the Supreme Court, the ultimate arbiter of the constitutionality of Ireland’s laws.

Shatter said he sided with those liberal lawmakers who would have liked the bill to legalize abortion also in cases where the pregnancy was caused by rape or incest, or when DNA tests or scans confirm that the fetus cannot survive after birth because of missing organs or other deadly defects.

Principal who fled lethal meal arrested

NEW DELHI - Nine days after she disappeared, the principal of a school in eastern India where 23 children died after eating a lunch tainted with pesticide was arrested Wednesday.

The principal, Meena Kumari, had been on her way to surrender before a judge in Chapra when she was detained by police, the district police chief, Sujeet Kumar, said in a telephone interview.

Kumari was among the most wanted people in India after she fled her school in the village of Dharmasati Gandawa in Bihar’s Saran district when the children in her school started throwing up soon after eating a free lunch. Forensic tests have confirmed that the cooking oil used to prepare the meal of rice, beans, potato curry and soy balls was contaminated with pesticide. Kumari bought the cooking oil from a store owned by her husband, who might have stored the cooking oil in a container once filled with pesticide, police said.

Since the only other adult at the school was the school’s cook, who also fell ill, Kumari’s departure meant that the ailing children were left to fend for themselves, according to villagers and state officials. Some staggered home to die in the arms of their parents.

China charges politician in graft case

BEIJING - Chinese politician Bo Xilai was indicted today on charges of corruption, accepting bribes and abuse of power, state media reported, moving China’s biggest political scandal in years toward closure.

The indictment paves the way for a trial, more than a year after Bo dropped from sight in one of China’s biggest-ever political scandals.

The Xinhua News Agency said the indictment was handed over today by prosecutors in the eastern city of Jinan to the city’s intermediate court. That indicates the trial will take place in the city soon, although the report did not say when.

Bo, the former party boss of the southwestern megacity of Chongqing, was expelled from the party in September and accused of corruption, illicit sexual affairs and abetting the cover-up of a murder by his wife.

The allegations leveled against Bo in September dated back more than a decade, including abuse of power, bribe taking and improper relations with several women - banned by the party because they are considered an inducement to corruption.

Front Section, Pages 6 on 07/25/2013

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