In the World

BERLIN - After months of debate, Germany's lower house of parliament yesterday passed terrorism legislation granting federal police the right to spy on citizens' computers and tap conversations. Those powers are now held only by Germany's foreign intelligence service.

The measure, which passed, 375-168, is expected to easily pass the upper house and take effect before the end of the year.

The law was sharply criticized by the opposition and rights groups as infringing on the privacy rights guaranteed by the constitution. Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble defended the measures as necessary tools in the fight against international terrorist networks.

- AP

BRUSSELS, Belgium - There's hope again for homely hazelnuts and misshapen mushrooms. The European Commission yesterday threw out 100 pages of marketing standards requiring 26 fruits and vegetables to be sold without any odd curves.

"We simply don't need to regulate this," said agriculture chief Mariann Fischer Boel. "In these days of high food prices and general economic difficulties, consumers should be able to choose from the widest range of products possible."

The European Union ban, imposed more than 20 years ago to ensure uniform sizes for fruits and vegetables, has triggered much ridicule. "Pretty-food" standards remain in effect, however, for a handful of others, including apples, strawberries and tomatoes. But governments may allow "uglier" versions to be sold if they wish.

- AP

GOMA, Congo - Angola said yesterday that it was prepared to send troops to neighboring Congo, heightening fears that the fighting in this central African nation will engulf other countries in the region.

Angolan Deputy Foreign Minister Georges Chicoty did not say how many troops might go to Congo or what their mission would be, and it was unclear whether they would be acting as peacekeepers or supporting the government in its fight against rebels.

The presence of Angolan soldiers in the region would likely be seen as a provocation to Rwanda, which battled Angolans during Congo's devastating 1998-2002 war. That conflict ripped Congo into rival fiefdoms, with rebels backed by Uganda and Rwanda controlling vast swaths of territory rich in coffee, gold and tin in the east.

- AP

Italy has grounded

the helicopters it uses to carry Pope Benedict XVI, after a similar aircraft crashed in France last month. An investigation of the incident, in which eight people were killed, showed that a blade of the HH-3F helicopter's main rotor broke off.

A Haitian school

partially collapsed in the capital yesterday, injuring at least five students less than a week after the collapse of another school killed 89 people. No one was trapped inside. Recent rains may have weakened the building, officials said.