Worlds News in Brief

Pope Benedict XVI rebuked Irish bishops yesterday for grave errors of judgment in handling clerical sex abuse cases and ordered an investigation into the Irish church. But he laid no blame for the problem on the Vatican's policies of keeping such cases secret. In a letter to the Irish faithful read across Europe amid a growing, multination abuse scandal, the pope apologized to victims but doled out no specific punishments to bishops blamed by Irish government-ordered investigations for having covered up abuse of thousands of Irish children from the 1930s to the 1990s. (AP)

Thousands of Indonesians rallied in the capital of the world's most populous Muslim nation yesterday to protest Israel's plan to expand construction in disputed East Jerusalem. Demonstrators organized by an Islamic political party waved Indonesian and Palestinian flags and carried banners that read "Save our Palestine" and "Israel is the real terrorist" on their march through downtown Jakarta. The crowd swelled to an estimated 5,000 people during the three-hour protest, which was mostly peaceful. (AP)

A crimson tide of protesters snaked its way through the streets of the Thai capital yesterday, traveling in a caravan of thousands of cars, trucks and motorbikes to drum up support for their campaign to oust a government they call illegitimate. The Red Shirt protesters plan to follow the march with a giant painting made from their own blood, the latest shock tactic in their weeklong campaign to have Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva dissolve Parliament and call new elections. The raucous procession was met with curious and often sympathetic crowds. (AP)

A person was arrested over a racial comment made over the public-address system at a Walmart store in southern New Jersey, the Washington Township Police Department said on its Web site yesterday. Last Sunday, a male voice came over the Walmart public-address system last Sunday evening and calmly announced: "Attention, Walmart customers: All black people, leave the store now." The 16-year-old suspect was charged with bias and intimidation as well as harassment. (Agencies)