Irish terrorism conviction makes court history

DUBLIN, Ireland -- An anti-terrorist court, accepting the testimony of a paid FBI informer, convicted the alleged leader of a dissident Irish Republican Army faction on Wednesday of directing terrorism -- the first such conviction in Irish history.

Michael McKevitt, 53, also was found guilty of membership in an illegal organization, the Real IRA, which was involved in the deadliest explosion in Northern Ireland's three decades of violence.

McKevitt reportedly formed the Real IRA to protest the IRA's 1997 decision to abandon its campaign against British rule in favor of peace talks, producing the Good Friday agreement of 1998. The Real IRA bombed more than a dozen Northern Ireland towns that year, culminating in a car bomb attack in Omagh on Aug. 15, 1998, which killed 29 people and wounded more than 300.

Gay bishop's approval threatens Anglican split

LONDON -- Anglicans in many parts of the world reacted angrily Wednesday to U.S. Episcopalians' confirmation of their first openly gay bishop, with some threatening to cut ties with the American church. The archbishop of Canterbury tried to avert a split.

The Anglicans' spiritual leader, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, appealed for opponents not to act rashly in response to the Rev. V. Gene Robinson's approval Tuesday as bishop of New Hampshire. But Williams acknowledged it would inevitably have a "significant impact" on the worldwide Anglican Communion.

After decades of debate among the denominations' branches around the world over homosexuality, Robinson's confirmation threatened to open a painful rift, particularly between doctrinally conservative Anglican leaders in Asia and Africa and more liberal clergy in wealthy, Western countries.

Turkish president OKs reforms to curb military

ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey's president approved reforms Wednesday aimed at curtailing the influence of the powerful military in politics, hoping to boost the chances of this largely Muslim country for joining the European Union.

The EU has been pressuring Turkey to curb the military's influence and make other fundamental changes to join the bloc. Backed by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, the reforms reduce the military's hold over a key forum that groups military and political leaders -- often used by generals to impose their will on the government.

The parliament passed the reforms last week in the hopes of starting negotiations for membership in the 15-nation European Union by the end of next year.

The measures stress that the military-dominated National Security Council is an advisory body. They limit the number of times the Council meets, enable appointment of a civilian to head the council's secretariat and allow greater parliamentary scrutiny of military expenses.

Russian polling agency claims Kremlin takeover

MOSCOW -- The government is stripping Russia's best-known polling agency of its independence, depriving journalists, scholars and politicians of objective information on public opinion, the organization's head said Wednesday.

In a few weeks, the Russian Center for Public Opinion and Market Research, known by its Russian acronym VTsIOM, will have a new board of directors made up of government representatives, director Yuri Levada said.

"It will be a different organization," Levada said, adding that he believed the new board would completely change the company's management.

The government denied that it was trying to infringe on VTsIOM's independence, saying the changes are routine.

VTsIOM, founded at the end of the Soviet era, has always been a state-owned entity, but the government has never interfered with its work, Levada said. The agency receives no state funding, he added.

-- From wire reports