World datelines

Australia: Apology coming

CANBERRA — Parliament will apologize next week to thousands of Aborigines who were forcibly removed from their families under policies that lasted for decades, but the proposed apology does not include any financial compensation.

About 100,000 children were taken from their Aboriginal mothers between 1910 and the 1970s under laws that argued the race was doomed and that integrating the children was a humane alternative.

Britain: Extradition approved

LONDON — Britain's Home Office on Thursday approved the extradition to the U.S. of an Islamic preacher who is accused of trying to establish a terrorist training camp in Oregon, a spokesman said.

Abu Hamza al-Masri was arrested on a U.S. extradition warrant in May 2004, but the process was put on hold while he stood trial in Britain and then appealed his convictions.

The Home Office's approval of his extradition means the preacher could be sent to the United States within a month's time.

Al-Masri already has been sentenced to seven years' imprisonment in Britain for fomenting racial hatred and urging his followers to kill non-Muslims.

Colombia: Day without cars

BOGOTA — Residents of Colombia's capital could breathe a little easier on Thursday as the city celebrated a "day without cars."

More than a million private cars and trucks were kept off the streets from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. in Bogota under the slogan "Clean Air Day," according to the mayor's office, which organized the initiative. It is was the eighth year the city has held the event.

Commuters were encouraged to walk, ride a bicycle or take public transport to work.

France: Story prompts lawsuit

PARIS — France's newly married president, Nicolas Sarkozy, filed a legal complaint Thursday over a media report saying he promised to call off his engagement if his ex-wife came back to him, his lawyer said.

The complaint accused the Web site of the weekly newsmagazine Nouvel Observateur of making the story up, lawyer Thierry Herzog said in a statement. The charges, which include "using falsehoods," are punishable by up to three years in prison and fines of up to $65,000.

Israel: 7 Palestinians killed