WORLD BRIEFS

LIBYA: Rebels keeping key captives

Moammar Gadhafi's intelligence chief is being held at a secret location deep in the southern desert because of possible threats to his life, a government spokesman said Monday. Abdullah al-Senoussi, wanted by the International Criminal Court in the Hague and by France, is being held in the city of Sabha by revolutionary fighters who captured him Sunday. Fighters from another faction are holding the other high-level detainee, Gadhafi's son Seif al-Islam, whose convoy was swarmed by militiamen in the southern desert on Saturday. They are refusing to hand him over to national authorities in Tripoli, casting doubt on the ability of the National Transitional Council to control the fractured country.

CAMBODIA: 'Killing fields' trial begins

Three Khmer Rouge leaders accused of helping to mastermind the "killing fields" in the 1970s went on trial Monday in Phnom Penh as hundreds of victims and curious onlookers arrived from around the country to witness the proceedings. The UN-backed trial is expected to take months. Nuon Chea, 85, the Khmer Rouge's chief ideologist and second in command, Khieu Samphan, 80, an ex-head of state and Ieng Sary, 86, former foreign minister, sat in a row in a courtroom specially built for the tribunal. They face charges including crimes against humanity, genocide, religious persecution, homicide and torture. A court ruled last week that Ieng Thirith, 79, would not face trial because she has Alzheimer's; the prosecution is appealing that ruling. The wife of Ieng Sary, she is a former minister for social affairs.

VATICAN CITY: Cardinal Law retires

Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned in disgrace as Boston's archbishop in 2002 after the priest sex abuse scandal erupted in the United States, has retired as head of a major Roman basilica. The Vatican said Monday that Pope Benedict XVI had accepted the 80-year-old Law's resignation as archpriest of St. Mary Major basilica and had named Spanish Msgr. Santos Abril y Castello to replace him.