WORLD BRIEFS

BRITAIN: Drastic budget unveiled

The Treasury secretary, George Osborne, unveiled Wednesday a campaign to dig Britain out from under a mountain of public debt, setting up a global experiment: Can a major nation drastically slash government spending without derailing its economic recovery? The Conservative-led coalition headed by Prime Minister David Cameron announced cuts deeper than those made by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, outlining a plan to eliminate half a million government jobs, slash welfare benefits and reduce $131-billion worth of other public spending on everything from fighter jets to pensions to the arts by 2015.

Saudi prince gets life

Prince Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser Al Saud was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison, with parole possible after 20 years. He had been convicted of a killing so lurid it has shocked even London, with its long history of tawdry sex crimes dating back to Jack the Ripper. The victim, Bandar Abdulaziz, had so many internal injuries, including bleeding on the brain and a fractured larynx, that pathologists could not pinpoint the cause of death after his body was found in the Landmark Hotel. The prince had tried in vain to hide his homosexuality from the court and had been filmed on a closed-circuit camera mercilessly beating the man, his paid manservant, in the hotel elevator. The frenzied killing, and erotic photos of the victim found on the prince's mobile phone, have embarrassed the Saudi royal family, which has refused to comment on the matter.

FRANCE: Strikers block airports

Workers opposed to a higher retirement age blocked roads to airports around France on Wednesday, leaving passengers in Paris dragging suitcases on foot along an emergency breakdown lane. Outside the capital, hooded youths smashed store windows amid clouds of tear gas. Riot police forced striking workers away from blocked fuel depots in western France, restoring gasoline to areas where pumps were dry after weeks of protests over the government proposal raising the age from 60 to 62. Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said both the strikes and the violence were taking an economic toll. "I'm calling on people to be responsible, in particular those who are having a roaring time blocking access and breaking things," she said. After months of largely peaceful disruptions, some protests erupted into scattered violence this week. President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed that his conservative party would pass the reform in a Senate vote expected Thursday.

UNITED NATIONS: China fights Darfur report

China tried to block a UN report alleging that Chinese ammunition was sent to Darfur in violation of a UN arms embargo but apparently didn't succeed, UN diplomats said Wednesday. The Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against Sudan met Wednesday afternoon and two diplomats familiar with the closed-door deliberations said China argued that the report by the committee's panel of experts should not be sent to the council. One diplomat said China claimed the panel was unprofessional and flawed, and challenged its methodology.