WORLD IN BRIEF

Rights group alleges killings

New York-based Human Rights Watch on Tuesday accused Congo’s government of killing an estimated 500 opposition members since 2006 and alleged President Joseph Kabila himself gave orders to crush opponents. The report was the first serious allegation of widespread abuse and possible crimes against humanity by the two-year-old government. A presidential spokesman called it “nonsense.”

Searchers find only bodies after slides

Rescue workers desperately digging through the wreckage of homes engulfed by mudslides found more bodies Tuesday in southern Brazil, raising the death toll from rain-spawned floods and hillside collapses to 72. At least 17 people were still missing in small cities and towns across Santa Catarina state, where torrential weekend rains far surpassed records going back to 1961.

Law could send beggars to prison

Ireland plans to impose tough new penalties on beggars for the first time since the Potato Famine 160 years ago. Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said the measure is necessary because of the growth of professional begging gangs who harass pedestrians. A bill will make begging punishable by a maximum $900 fine or a month in prison.

Sex-service ads draw official’s fire

Classified ads are the latest target of the British government’s crackdown on the sex industry. Minister for Women Harriet Harman urged members of the country’s largest women’s organization, the Women’s Institute, to complain to editors who run ads for massage parlors or escort services when what’s being sold is actually sex. Last week, the Home Office announced plans to make it a criminal act to have sex with a woman forced into prostitution —- even if the man did not know the prostitute was being “controlled for another person’s gain.”

Nuclear inspector cites WMD claims

Chief U.N. nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei urged caution against prematurely judging Syria’s atomic program by reminding diplomats at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency about false U.S. claims that Iraq’s Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The blunt remarks, released Tuesday, came amid debate over whether Syria should be given potentially sensitive nuclear guidance at a time it is being investigated for alleged secret atomic activities.

Name kids after dictator, get money

What’s in a name? A little extra cash, if the name is that of Italy’s wartime Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini or his wife. The neo-Fascist Fiamma Tricolore party is offering $1,900 to parents in southern Italian villages who name their children Benito or Rachele to pay homage to the party’s roots and keep alive names now rarely used.

Foreigners must carry cards in Britain

The British government began its identity card program for foreign nationals Tuesday —- six years after heated debate over whether the costly plan is an effective tool against terrorism, identity theft and welfare fraud. The last time Britain had ID cards was at the end of World War II. Government officials say the cards, expected to be used by about 90 percent of Britain’s foreign nationals within seven years, should provide a tamperproof way to determine a person’s true identity and whether he or she is eligible to work in Britain. Privacy advocates complain the government is compiling an unprecedented database on British residents.