World in brief

Millions of Dutch people dressed in orange flocked to celebrations across the Netherlands on Tuesday in honor of a once-in-a-generation milestone for the country’s ruling House of Orange-Nassau: after a 33-year reign, Queen Beatrix abdicated in favor of her eldest son, Willem-Alexander. At 46, King Willem-Alexander is the youngest monarch in Europe and the first Dutch king in 123 years, since Willem III died in 1890. About 25,000 supporters thronged Amsterdam’s central Dam Square, hoping to catch a glimpse of the new king or the departing 75-year-old queen, now known as Princess Beatrix.

UKRAINE

Court: Tymoshenko jailing was rights abuse

Ukraine’s jailing of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was a politically motivated violation of her rights, Europe’s human rights court ruled Tuesday, dealing a harsh blow to President Viktor Yanukovych who has insisted that the case against his top opponent was not political. The prosecution of Tymoshenko, the country’s most vocal opposition leader, has strained the former Soviet state’s ties with the European Union and the United States. Tuesday’s ruling put fresh pressure of Yanukovych to ensure Tymoshenko’s release if he wants to sign a key cooperation agreement with Brussels later this year.

PAKISTAN

Court bans Musharraf from office for life

A Pakistani court Tuesday banned former military ruler Pervez Musharraf from running for public office for the rest of his life, the latest blow since he returned from exile last month to make a political comeback. The ban came as Pakistan’s powerful army chief pledged in a rare speech that the military would do everything in its power to ensure the parliamentary election is held as scheduled May 11, despite the Taliban’s attempt to disrupt the vote by attacking candidates. One of Musharraf’s lawyers, Saad Shibli, said he would go to the Supreme Court to challenge the ruling against his client.

LIBYA

Militias exert pressure by storming ministries

Gunmen swooped in on trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns and surrounded Libya’s Justice Ministry on Tuesday, cutting off roads and forcing employees out of the building in the latest instance of powerful militiamen showing their muscle to press their demands on how Libya should be run more than a year after Moammar Gadhafi’s ouster. Militiamen are publicly calling for the removal of Gadhafi-era officials from government posts and the passage of the so-called “isolation law,” which would bar from political life anyone who held any position — even minor — under the ousted autocrat’s regime.

FRANCE

Austerity reaches presidential wine cellar

The dreaded phantasm of economic austerity has finally knocked its bony fingers on the door of the Elysee Palace, which announced Tuesday that it would auction off 1,200 bottles of its finest wines, renew its cellar with “more modest” vintages and return the surplus to the state budget. President Francois Hollande, a Socialist who was elected a year ago, has made a point of trying to be a “normal president” and contrast his simpler style with the “bling bling” image of his predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy. He has trimmed the presidential and ministerial fleet of cars, pushing for smaller hybrids, and has cut ministerial salaries.

MYANMAR

New anti-Muslim violence injures 10

Buddhist mobs hurling bricks overran a pair of mosques and set hundreds of homes ablaze in central Myanmar on Tuesday, injuring at least 10 people in the latest anti-Muslim violence to shake the Southeast Asian nation. Terrified Muslim families who fled the assaults around Okkan, about 70 miles north of Yangon, could be seen hiding in forests along roads and crouching in paddy fields afterward. Some, in a state of shock, wept as their houses burned in the night and young men with buckets futilely tried to douse the flames.

NIGERIA

Witnesses describe assault that killed 187

Witnesses in a northeast Nigeria village where at least 187 people were killed in fighting between the military and Islamic extremists say soldiers set fire to homes. Foreign journalists made it to Baga village on Tuesday, more than a week after the attack. Soldiers blocked journalists from looking at graveyards and limited their access to the village. Fisherman Abdullahi Gumel says villagers continue to bury bodies every day. Meanwhile, the nation’s presidency issued a statement again denying mass civilian casualties as “a lot of misinformation.”