In the World

CAIRO, Egypt - A female Sudanese journalist convicted of public indecency for wearing trousers outdoors was freed yesterday, despite her desire to serve a month in prison as a protest against Sudan's draconian morality laws.

The judge who convicted Lubna Hussein had imposed a $200 fine as her sentence, avoiding the maximum sentence of 40 lashes in an apparent attempt to put an end to a case that had aroused international criticism of Sudan.

Hussein, 43, refused to pay the fine, which would have meant a month's imprisonment. She said she was freed yesterday after the fine was paid without her knowledge by the Journalist Union, which is headed by a member of the ruling party.

"I had chosen prison, and not to pay the fine in solidarity with hundreds of other women jailed" under this law, Hussein said by phone from Khartoum. - AP

MADRID, Spain - The Spanish government said yesterday it was close to deciding how many Guantanamo detainees it would accept from the U.S. military detention center on the southeastern tip of Cuba.

Spain is still studying individual prisoners' cases, but the process is far along "if not yet totally completed," Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said in the southern city of Alicante.

He assured Spaniards that detainees admitted into the country would not pose a security threat. The United States has asked Spain to accept four prisoners from Guantanamo.

President Obama has pledged to close the Guantanamo detention facility. "I think Europe, which was especially critical of Guantanamo and all it represented, must now . . . lend a hand because the closure benefits us all," Rubalcaba said. - AP

BERLIN - Germany's parliament unanimously passed a blanket measure yesterday overturning all Nazi-era verdicts convicting people of treason, nearly 65 years after the end of World War II.

Treason convictions carried the death penalty and were handed down in Nazi Germany for any act deemed harmful to the nation or helpful to the enemy. Under that definition, people were convicted of treason for political resistance, aiding Jews, helping prisoners of war, selling products on the black market, and scores of other acts.

"By rehabilitating all so-called war traitors, we restore the honor and dignity of a long-forgotten group of victims of the Nazi justice system," Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries said. - AP

Mexican President Felipe Calderon wants to eliminate the government departments of tourism, agrarian reform, and public administration to cut costs. Calderon said the move may save $6 billion.

Northern Ireland police said a 600-pound bomb designed to kill its officers was defused near the border with the Republic of Ireland. The force said the massive bomb was planted by dissident republicans, who oppose the province's ties to Britain.