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In the World

McDonald's pulls out of Iceland

REYKJAVIK, Iceland - The Big Mac, a symbol of globalization, is pulling out of Iceland - a victim of this tiny island nation's overexposure to the world financial crisis.

All three of Iceland's McDonald's restaurants - all in the capital Reykjavik - will close next weekend because the collapse of the Icelandic krona has pushed up the cost of imported ingredients.

"The economic situation has just made it too expensive for us," Magnus Ogmundsson, managing director of Lyst Hr., McDonald's franchise holder in Iceland, said yesterday. McDonald's requires the franchisee to import all the goods required for its restaurants - from Germany - and costs have doubled over the last year.

A Big Mac in Reykjavik retails for 650 krona ($5.29). But the 20 percent increase needed to make a decent profit would have pushed that to 780 krona ($6.36), he said. That would have made the Icelandic version of the burger the most expensive in the world. - AP

Vatican reaches out to dissidents

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI's efforts to reach out to Christian traditionalists took a new step yesterday with the start of talks with a group of breakaway Catholics that includes a Holocaust denier.

The Vatican said the three-hour talks with a delegation from the Society of St. Pius X were held in a "cordial, respectful, and constructive climate" and would continue over the coming months.

The society, founded by the late ultraconservative Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, split from Rome over the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council, particularly its outreach to Jews and non-Catholic Christians.

The Vatican has said the Holocaust denier, British Bishop Richard Williamson, must "absolutely and unequivocally" distance himself from his remarks if he ever wants to be a prelate in the church. Williamson has apologized for causing scandal to the pope but has not repudiated his views.

- AP

Gadhafi's regret over 1984 killing

LONDON - Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, in an interview broadcast yesterday, expressed regret over the April 1984 death of London policewoman Yvonne Fletcher, who was killed by shots fired from Libya's embassy, but he said he did not know the identity of her killer.

"We are sorry all the time and our sympathy, because she was on duty, she was there to protect the Libyan Embassy," he told Sky News. He said the case was "a problem which should be solved. But who did it? That's the question."

Britain broke off diplomatic ties with Libya for 15 years after the shooting. The countries restored diplomatic relations in 1999 after Libya accepted responsibility for Fletcher's death and paid her family compensation.

Britain's growing ties with Libya have drawn scrutiny since the August release from prison of Lockerbie bomber Ali Mohmed Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, who is terminally ill with cancer. - AP

Elsewhere:

Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was elected to a fifth term with 89 percent of the vote - his weakest performance yet. No international monitors were allowed for Sunday's election.