World briefs 12/22/02

South Koreans stage anti-U.S. candlelight vigil

SEOUL, South Korea -- Thousands of South Koreans staged candlelit marches across the country Saturday to protest the acquittals of two U.S. soldiers whose military vehicle hit and killed two teenage Korean girls.

The anti-U.S. demonstrations in 28 cities including the capital Seoul were only the latest sparked by the June accident and the jury acquittals of the soldiers in U.S. military courts in November.

"Punish murderers!" shouted some 2,500 mostly young protesters in Seoul as they marched toward the U.S. Embassy. Thousands of police stopped the marchers a block from the embassy, foiling their plan to surround the building.

Protesters demand the soldiers be retried in a South Korean court, and that the legal code covering the status of U.S. soldiers posted here be revised to give South Korea more jurisdiction over them.

Repeated apologies for the girls' deaths from President Bush and other top U.S. officials have failed to mollify protesters.

Iranian president to make first visit to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Iranian President Mohammed Khatami will make his first visit to Pakistan next week to discuss the conflict in Afghanistan and other security issues, a Foreign Ministry statement said Saturday.

Islamabad's relations with Iran have been complicated by Pakistani support for the U.S.-led war against terror networks worldwide, including in neighboring Afghanistan.

The visit will also be the first by an Iranian president in five years.

Italian lawmakers ban smoking in public places

ROME -- Smoking will get a little harder in Italy, where cigarettes are as common an accessory as a Vespa motorbike or a Fendi handbag.

The Senate passed a bill Saturday banning smoking in most public places. The law takes effect in a year.

The bill, already passed this month by the lower Chamber of Deputies, requires bar and restaurant owners to create separate smoking areas if they want to allow smoking.

Owners failing to enforce the law face up to $2,000 in fines. Individuals who light up in no-smoking areas face fines of $25-$250 -- although the amount can double if they smoke near a pregnant woman or child under 12.

About 12 million Italians -- or 20 percent of the population -- smoke, and Health Minister Girolamo Sirchia has campaigned to get them to quit.

Police recover paintings stolen from Irish home

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Police have recovered five stolen paintings, including two by the Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens, from the attic of a public housing project and arrested three people, they said Saturday.

Detectives found the hidden artworks Friday night, nearly three months after they disappeared from Russborough House, the home of the late English art collector and philanthropist Sir Alfred Beit.

Assistant Commissioner Joe Egan said the three people arrested -- two women and a man, all in their thirties -- had not been charged, but added that he expected more arrests. He did not release the suspects' names.

"This is not the end of the investigation into the disappearance," Egan said. "We would hope at this stage that the people and criminals engaging in this type of activity would at last see the folly of their ways."

-- From wire reports