LISBON, PORTUGAL — European Union leaders Thursday agreed on a broad reform treaty to replace their failed European constitution and give the 27-nation union more say in world affairs, diplomats said. The reform treaty promises to accelerate decision-making so EU members can act more swiftly on global issues such as defense, energy security, climate change and migration.
Kids open suitcase, find child’s body
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — A group of children found a boy’s body stuffed into a suitcase and floating in a duck pond in suburban Sydney, police said Thursday.
Homicide Detective Superintendent Geoff Beresford said the naked body was wrapped in plastic. He put the boy’s age at between 4 and 8. Witnesses had seen the suitcase floating in the pond for at least two days.
A postmortem examination began Thursday. Police said the boy did not match the description of anyone on missing-persons lists.
Interpreter blamed for “nuclear” misquote
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations said Thursday action would be taken against the interpreter responsible for an erroneous report that Syria has a nuclear facility.
Syria denied that one of its representatives told the U.N. General Assembly’s disarmament committee on Tuesday that Israel had attacked a Syrian nuclear facility. It said the representative was misquoted and insisted that “such facilities do not exist in Syria.”
After more than seven hours of investigation Wednesday, U.N. officials agreed the Syrian delegate was misquoted. “There was no use of the word nuclear,” U.N. associate spokesman Farhan Haq said.
The mistake made headlines in the Middle East and heightened concerns over Damascus’ nuclear ambitions.
Briton tells Parliament to shape up
LONDON — Weight-conscious lawmakers called on British authorities Thursday to replace Parliament’s shooting gallery with a swimming pool, saying it would help them keep in shape.
“Do you agree that there are too many fat members of Parliament?” lawmaker Richard Bacon asked in a House of Commons debate. “Speaking as one of them, may I say how much I welcome reports about proposals to (replace) the shooting range with a swimming pool.”
Legislators have urged officials considering renovations to the Palace of Westminster, home to Britain’s Parliament, to clear out the rifle range to make way for better sports facilities.
Six sentenced for fireworks deaths
LIMA, PERU — A former police chief and five other people have been sentenced to four years in prison following a 2001 fire that killed at least 290 people in the capital, according to a court communique Thursday.
Explosions ripped through four blocks of sidewalk stalls selling fireworks on Dec. 29, 2001, after a vendor set off a firecracker to interest a potential buyer.
Judge Juan Carlos Vidal, president of the three-justice tribunal, said the former police chief, Gen. Luis Alberto Sanchez, had acted negligently by removing police barriers that had kept fireworks sellers out of the area ahead of New Year celebrations.
