The world in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY “I can’t count the number of people that died.They took them in open vehicles.

People were running and there was confusion.” Ben Nwachukwu,

Nigerian government employee, about an explosion at a bus station that killed at least 72 people Article, 9APassover starts; Israeli slain in territory

JERUSALEM - Families across Israel gathered after sundown Monday for ritual meals signaling the start of Passover, with holiday observances overshadowed by a fatal shooting in the West Bank.

The week-long holiday commemorates the liberation of the ancient Israelites from centuries of slavery in Egypt, as described in the Old Testament.

This year, Passover comes amid uncertainty over the future of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Ahead of the holiday, Israel sealed off the West Bank, barring Palestinians from entering Israel, an annual Passover precaution against possible attacks.

Despite extra security measures, an assailant standing by the side of a road in the West Bank opened fire on passing Israeli cars Monday evening, killing a man and wounding a woman and a boy, police said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The holiday provided a brief break from U.S.-led efforts to salvage the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met late Sunday, and U.S. mediator Martin Indyk was expected to return from consultations in Washington by Tuesday.

Mexico to list money-laundering pariahs

MEXICO CITY - Mexico has announced plans to fight money laundering by using “kingpin” lists like those issued by the U.S. that prohibit citizens and companies from conducting financial transactions with those listed.

Mexico has long been criticized because businesses designated by the U.S. Treasury Department as laundering conduits for drug cartels often continue to operate in Mexico.

Mexican officials had previously complained the U.S. lists didn’t include enough evidence to persuade courts to shut down the companies, and many of the people named in the U.S. actions have denied any role in money laundering.

But Finance Secretary Luis Videgaray said recent reforms to Mexico’s financial laws will allow officials to prohibit bank and brokerage transactions, without the need for a prior court ruling to convict an individual or seize a company.

Videgaray said those transaction bans will be based on U.S. and United Nations’ lists and Mexico’s own designations. But the law that allows those lists is relatively vague, and it is unclear whether the designations can be challenged in courts.

Gadhafi son to face trial via video link

TRIPOLI, Libya - A Libyan judge in the trial of former regime officials decided Monday that Moammar Gadhafi’s son, held by a militia in the country’s west, can be tried in the proceedings by way of a video link.

Since the end of Libya’s 2011 civil war, Seif al-Islam Gadhafi has been held by a militia in Zintan that has refused to hand him over for a separate trial in the capital, Tripoli, and the weak central government has been unable to force the issue.

Seif al-Islam faces charges along with 39 other Gadhafi regime figures - including spymaster Abdullah al-Senoussi - regarding crimes during the civil war. Both men are also wanted by the International Criminal Court regarding the murder and persecution of protesters in the uprising.

The judge in the courtroom that is set up in a Tripoli prison facility ordered a satellite link with Seif al-Islam in the Zintan prison and adjourned the proceedings until April 27.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch, in a statement released Monday, expressed concerns about the trial including the defendants’ limited access to lawyers and key documents on the evidence against them.

Town’s C. Africans flee bloody strife

BANGUI, Central African Republic - Residents of a Central African Republic town have fled their homes after Muslim fighters overran the place and killed several people, a local official said Monday.

Eric Kongbo said that the fighters - former members of the Seleka rebel alliance and Muslim herders - arrived in Grimari, in the country’s center a day earlier. They knocked down doors and set fire to homes and slit the throats of some people, said Kongbo, who spoke to a reporter from the bush after having fled himself.

He said it was unclear how many people had been killed because residents were too afraid to return to the town.

Capt. Ahmat Nidjad Ibrahim of the Seleka said Christian militias had attacked the town and his fighters were merely chasing them.

Front Section, Pages 8 on 04/15/2014

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