World datelines

Fiji: Cyclone aid

SUVA — Australian and New Zealand air force planes began airlifting emergency supplies Wednesday to cyclone-battered Fiji, where a state of emergency has been declared and troops ordered to launch relief operations in northern regions hit by a powerful cyclone that forced thousands of people to flee into shelters.

Cyclone Tomas' onslaught was weakening Wednesday, but the scope of destruction was not clear because communications were cut to outer island groups and to northern areas of Vanua Levu, the group's second-biggest island.

Germany: Sex abuse

BERLIN — The Roman Catholic bishops in Pope Benedict XVI's native Bavaria sought Tuesday to deal with a sexual abuse scandal whose ever-widening scope has left church leaders baffled.

"I would not have expected such a multitude of cases," Bavarian Bishop Ludwig Schick, who is hosting his colleagues' meeting at Vierzehnheiligen, told Bayerischer Rundfunk Radio.

He said he was shaken and ashamed of what had taken place within the church.

Mexico: Police detained

MEXICO CITY — Scores of police officers — including the entire department of one town — have been detained in Mexican probes of killings and kidnappings.

Mayor Alfredo Osorio of the Gulf Coast town Tierra Blanca said Monday that about 90 city policemen were being held for questioning about the kidnapping of undocumented Central American migrants.

The officers — the town's entire local force — were detained by state police and soldiers and taken to the capital of the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz for questioning. No formal charges had been filed.

The police allegedly kidnapped the migrants to shake them down for money.

Ukraine: No alliances

KIEV — Ukraine's new governing coalition in parliament said Tuesday it will pass a law against joining military alliances such as NATO, a move that is sure to please Russia while tilting Ukraine away from its previous pro-Western course.

In a statement of purpose published Tuesday in the parliament's official newspaper, the coalition supporting President Viktor Yanukovych said new legislation will "enshrine Ukraine's nonaligned status in law."

Nigeria: Call to violence