The Week Ahead: Tribunal closes in on war criminals

THE tribunal investigating those responsible for committing crimes against humanity in the former Yugoslavia resumes work today in The Hague under its new chief prosecutor, the South African judge, Richard Goldstone. The war crimes tribunal, which will open its fourth session, seems to have been speeding along at some pace and expects to lay its first charges in November.

Suspects have been identified and could be among refugees who have fled to Western countries. But the authorities will not announce charges until the relevant suspects have been arrested, to prevent those under the spotlight being tempted to run for it.

The tribunal plans to have 24 cells for defendants built during the summer. Inmates will have the right to receive visits from families, lawyers and diplomats from their country of origin.

In Yemen, another country afflicted by civil war, the United Nations is to start today to evacuate hundreds of Somali refugees who were caught in the conflict. They fled their own homeland in 1992 to escape factional fighting and famine. A ship bringing medical supplies and surgical equipment to the port of Aden will evacuate 763 Somalis to Berbera in Somaliland.

South Africa's President Nelson Mandela visits Mozambique from Wednesday until Friday as a guest of President Joaquim Chissano and will also hold talks with the opposition Renamo leader, Afonso Dhlakama. While in Maputo, Mr Mandela will join other heads of state attending a conference on science and technology in Africa. Mr Mandela's deputy, Thabo Mbeki, meanwhile, will be visiting Britain.

A dollars 74m ( pounds 48m) bullion robbery trial opens in New York on Wednesday of the Irish priest Rev Patrick Moloney who runs a home for troubled teenagers in Manhattan and who belongs to an Eastern Rite Catholic Church, separate from the Vatican. He is charged with receiving and possessing stolen property from the 1993 hold-up at the main Brinks depot in Rochester, New York. He claims that MI5 and the Royal Ulster Constabulary were involved in the case because of his nationalist sympathies.

The Archbishop of Milan, Carlo Maria Martini, visits the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, on Saturday for three days. The visitor, a radical left-of-centre Jesuit who speaks 11 languages and has written 50 books, campaigns against corruption in high places and is tipped to become the next pope. He celebrates the Eucharist at Canterbury Cathedral on Sunday.

Sports authorities in Iran are to lift the ban on women attending sports events so that they can watch the Asian Football Youth Games which open in Tehran today. But the new freedom will apply only to matches of under-16 footballers. Even this concession was condemned by Islamic hardliners, who grumbled in the daily Kayhan newspaper: 'What is the purpose of having women at our stadiums and to what degree could their presence help our young footballers achieve success?'

In Iraq, the authorities are keen to keep wild revelry in check. All bars, nightclubs, discotheques and shops selling alcohol have been ordered to close by Saturday. Violators of the Revolutionary Command Council's decree face up to a year in jail.

The on-and-off divorce case brought by the American comedienne Roseanne Arnold resumes in Los Angeles today. She claimed last week that she was repeatedly battered and raped by her husband Tom Arnold. Ms Arnold said she had withdrawn her first divorce petition in April because her husband threatened to kill her unless she dropped her allegations.

Those keen to wrap up in wintry garb during high summer should head for the Paris autumn-winter haute couture fashion shows which open today until Thursday, or to the annual World Santa Claus Congress in Copenhagen from tomorrow until Thursday.