World

A new crisis appeared to be developing in Northern Ireland after a police raid on the home of a Catholic political leader uncovered sensitive British government information "likely to be of use to terrorists." Denis Donaldson of Sinn Fein, the political party linked to the Irish Republican Army, and chief of administration in the province's joint Protestant-Catholic self-rule government, and three others are to be arraigned in court Monday. Britain's Minister for Northern Ireland called the situation "not only serious or grave ... [but] critical."

Artillery and small arms fire resonated in Ivory Coast's No. 2 city in what dissident soldiers said was an assault by loyalist forces. The fighting at Bouaké was reported on three fronts; another battle apparently was under way at Sakassou, 24 miles to the southwest. They erupted despite the hoped-for signing of a truce brokered by mediators from other West African nations. A ceremony Friday fell through, but the mediators were to meet with Ivoirian President Laurent Gbagbo late Sunday.

Because voting is compulsory, more than 115 million Brazilians were expected to cast ballots Sunday in the long-awaited presidential election. There appeared to be little doubt that leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva would command the most votes, although whether he'd win election without the need for a runoff Oct. 27 was unclear.

Political power will be restored to an interim government in Nepal later this week, a spokes-man for King Gyanendra said. Late Friday, the king fired Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his entire administration and assumed control of the government himself. Deuba, the monarch said, was unqualified to preside over elections for a new parliament. Deuba had asked for a one-year postponement of the voting because of the danger of Nepal's communist rebel insurgency.

The owners of a supertanker that caught fire and exploded as it passed Yemen were slow to accept the government's claim that there was no sign of a terrorism. All 25 crew members of the Limburg were rescued, reports said. A Western diplomat in Sanaa, Yemen's capital, claimed the French vessel had been rammed by a smaller boat laden with explosives. If true, it would have an almost identical attack to that by Al Qaeda operatives on the USS Cole in a Yemeni port two years ago.

A stab wound to Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe is not life-threatening, physicians said, after he was assaulted at a gala party at 2:30 a.m. Sunday. But he was expected to be hospitalized for at least a week. Delanoe's attacker, who has a criminal record, will be subjected to psychiatric tests, reports said.