PARIS — French police arrested 20 suspects as part of a crackdown across Europe on child pornography over the Internet, authorities said Wednesday.
Three of those arrested also were suspected of having abused children during overseas trips, French police officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Police said the operation involved several European nations, including Germany, Italy, Belgium and Britain.
Additional world news briefs:
Rocket accusation fired at Hezbollah
UNITED NATIONS — Israel alleges that Hezbollah militants in Lebanon have rearmed with new long-range rockets capable of hitting Tel Aviv and tripled their arsenal of land-to-sea missiles since last summer’s war, the United Nations secretary-general said Wednesday.
Ban Ki-Moon said the reports of Hezbollah’s rearming are a cause of great concern for the stability of Lebanon.
While Israel has not provided the U.N. with specific intelligence due to the sensitivity of the sources, Ban said several speeches by Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah in the past few months “seem to confirm these Israeli claims.”
Senior Hezbollah officials have said Nasrallah’s comments were made to deter aggression rather than as threats, Ban said.
Revolutionary Guard head warns U.S.
TEHRAN — The head of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps warned the U.S. on Wednesday against attacking Iran, saying if it did, Washington would be “stuck in a quagmire” worse than Iraq or Afghanistan.
Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said his forces were prepared to strike back with a “crushing response” if attacked, according to comments carried by the semiofficial Fars news agency.
“If enemies prove to be naive enough to invade Iran, they will be slapped hard,” Fars, which is deemed to be close to the Guards, quoted Jafari as saying. “The enemy knows that if it attacks Iran, it will certainly get stuck in a quagmire deeper than Iraq and Afghanistan and will be defeated.”
His comments come a day after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shrugged off new U.S. sanctions that ban dealings with companies connected to the Guards.
Bhutto cites rumors, vows to stay put
KARACHI, PAKISTAN — Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto abruptly canceled plans to travel abroad Wednesday, saying she had heard rumors the government could impose a state of emergency during her absence.
The opposition leader, who was targeted by suicide bombers when she returned home on Oct. 18 following eight years in exile, had been preparing to go to Dubai to see her husband and three children.
She said senior party aides told her President Gen. Pervez Musharraf might impose emergency measures if the Supreme Court found that his recent election win was unconstitutional. A ruling is expected this week.
The government denied any such plans.
Meanwhile, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle attacked a bus in eastern Punjab province today, killing at least five people and wounding up to 40, a local police chief said.
