World

Saddam Hussein could face up to 500 charges, but prosecutors will focus on 12 well-documented cases, including the gassing of thousands of Kurds in northern Iraq, an official said Sunday as the government pressed ahead with efforts to start the trial of the ousted dictator within two months. The announcement came a day after US Marines said they had discovered 50 weapons and ammunitions caches in Anbar Province, including a huge underground bunker complex that included air-conditioned living quarters and high-tech military equipment. Separately, Australia's top Islamic cleric, who is in Iraq trying to secure the release of California-based Australian engineer Douglas Wood, said he had seen the hos-tage who was abducted in late April and that he is "still alive and in honest hands."

Iran said Sunday it had agreed to postpone its controversial nuclear program until the end of July to give European negotiators time to prepare a proposal acceptable to Tehran, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. The announcement was the first indication by Iran it would continue its temporary freeze on uranium enrichment and followed last month's talks with negotiators in which Iran agreed to review a European Union proposal for a new round of talks this summer.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday postponed parliamentary elections indefinitely, giving his embattled Fatah party time to halt political infighting and shore up support against a growing challenge from Hamas. The election was to have been held July 17. The decision angered Hamas, which accused Abbas of stonewalling to protect his political interests. But the group signaled it would continue to honor a cease-fire with Israel, despite previous threats to abandon the truce if the election date was pushed back.

Copies of a shocking videotape documenting the 1995 execution of six Bosnian Muslims by a Serbian paramilitary unit were passed around for years among police in a garrison town, the daily Blic reported on Saturday. The tape was shown on Wednesday at The Hague war crimes trial of ex-strongman Slobodan Milosevic, and broadcast the same night on Serbian national television, triggering a wave of revulsion. A number of members of the former Scor-pions special police battalion were arrested, and at least two have fled.

Taiwan successfully test-fired a locally developed cruise missile capable of striking southeastern areas of mainland China, the China Times reported Sunday. The missile traveled about 300 miles before hitting its target.